“On This Island”
The shadow has not yet fallen
On the Holy One,
So they say
As I sit on this island
Full of Christianity
Full of the ghosts of monks,
Full of flowers
That have been fertilized
With centuries of prayer.
I sit on this island
And watch the sun
Turn the grass
From green to olive
And the sea
From blue to black.
Soon I am sitting in darkness
And in the abbey behind me
I can hear the blessing for the night.
I should have been joining in,
I, a man of the cloth,
But the ghosts around where I sit
Sing their own songs
And I reply softly
My words dancing in the breeze.
And on this island
There is a peace.
A child comes up to me,
I had not seen her before,
She says to me
“Mamma says will you visit her
She wishes to see you.”
I hold the child’s hand
And we walk into this cottage.
The mother, whose young face
Is like the rocks of the sea,
Smiles and says
“I have made you some soup.”
“I feel silly” I smile in return,
“Sitting on that bench
In near darkness.”
“You are not the first to sit there Father,
You will not be the last.
It’s the voices you see
From the souls of the monks
Who had asked to remain here
When they die,
For this is their heaven
On this island.”
For a hour longer
I sit on the bench
Until the voices of the island
Sleeps in the night
That will never fall
Onto this land.
—
The Reverend Tobias Trontby.
____________________________
Comments (41)
Terry my old friend…so sorry for abandoning the post!!!
I know many boys came and got taken cause of my ignorance!!
I am sorry…so the new setup is nice and I hope you have been giving the newbies hell!!!
~Z~
My Lord that is ruining the batch….ruining it!!!
Wow, great entry. Very thought provoking.
your ability to sustain the mood, scene, rhythm. you have patience with poetry that I often lack. perhaps why I count words. either way. cheers again.
this poem was simply simply simply
amazing!
especially accompanied by chieftains celtic music I am playing on the stereo
- S.S.
MiLord…you never fail to amaze me here with your creativity
and yes Dottie,Angel and I had a blast…the beer was quite cold..and we were extremely roudy…hmmm maybe we shall visit you next.
my daughter Shwayday here on xanga designed that for me with photoshop…she is quite the talent…with textures and brushes..yes?
Dorothea
very sweet poem. I do like this one.
I am wiped out, full day of digging on the yard and skating on the ice. I can put garden pictures on my blog and you can look for weeds. There are plenty. They come back in a day!
If you click on the pictures the pictures get bigger and well, I guess the plants do too. Actually I fed the flowers last week and it does seem like they doubled in size
Again, I liked this poem. I always like the ones from The Reverend T.
HI! I agree with you about the children. We always win! Great idea for the poem though…I never even thought about it. I will begin writing it in a couple days. I am really bogged down right now with stories to cover. It’s fun though. Anyway, enjoy your Friday and I’ll let you know when I am donw with the poem. ~Andrew~
I forgot to mention…I have a new site besides my CaliforniaDreamin1987 site. It’s Mediamaven…although, I still post on both sites. Ttyl. ~Andrew~
Free advertising for Lord P. on my site.
Liked this one. I always like the reverend… I wonder why…?
ha.
~Laura =)
sweet poem. emerson had some really great words to say,didn’t he?
This is a powerful poem. The reverend is a gifted writer.
As far as your question on my last post: ‘Belief’ the term “straight-shooter’ is common american slang for a person that’s ‘on target,’ or ‘gets the job done right,’ or ‘an honest, true person.’ It’s a complement.
Peace.
Absolutely gorgeous. Souls of the monks. Wow!
Oh my Rev. Toby is a man after my heart. So observative and compassionate. I love the style of this writing, so peaceful and intimate, make my heart sigh…thanks for such beauty.
Your uncle would have liked my grandmother then!
This is a wonderful poem. I think your Reverend personna has quite a gentle soul.
You must have some wonderful dreams and day dreams to write these things. I know they have to come from somewhere from inside a beautiful imagination. What a nice piece of writing. I did enjoy feeling that ocean breeze and that hot bowl of soup. Very nice, it was a pleasure to read.
Wonderful….I was transported there. Beautiful work, as usual.
I like the setting of this poem, which seems to me that the writer was dreaming and went to a nice island. The place seems peaceful to me but I have a feeling of lonely. I think maybe the person, ‘I’, in this poem was alone. Terry, I don’t have much exposure to poetry. I am afraid I may misunderstand the poem. Terry, may I ask if you are Reverend Tobias Trontby?
Terry, when will your personalities merge? They each are writers in their own voice. It simply amazes me and this is no exception to the amazement. You ALL have such a wonderful gift.
this is good I injoyed reading it…
No, I wish that I had, though. The song writing credit goes to Adam Duritz, lead singer of Counting Crows.
Jim
I love the ending. Infinite Blessings
hello lord. oh my, i called you lord. You should go see dylan! he plays a lot of stuff from Love and Theft, but, I really dig those songs.
where do you live in the UK?
my sister lives in milton keyes. (i think that’s the correct spelling)
lisa
I thank you for visiting my site. The truth is I can’t spell….or do math,dissabilities and a bad short term memory limit me in those sreas,always have and always will.I get by but I haven’t any spell check on xanga. As for publication, It won’t happen and all I write our my thoughts. No one can criticize a thought or how I think it. I am not a writer. I could never hope to be.
as I sit on this island
full of Christianity
full of the ghosts of monks,
full of flowers
that have been fertilized
with centuries of prayer.
More-or-less says it all! Brilliant encapsulation. I needed to see your writing not bolded, too, and maybe not capped either, now why is this? I think it enhances the sensitivity of the image … a purer flow of your beautiful language … [but that doesn't mean change anything about your presentation, you understand, just me]
I do not know you nor have I read your work. I am rather disapointed in you as a person that you’d go onto somebody elses page and correct their spelling. Thats really disrepectful.
Don’t worry sunshine, I won’t be visiting YOUR blog.
It is not easy to see through the spiderweb door…it takes imagination and faith….and especially the love of beauty….like your monk…seeking the other side of reality
Cool man. I thought my goodness he has become a really good poet, then i got to the end, and see it was a poem you liked. I liked it as well Cheers Marj
You are a very gifted man with such a wonderful way with words. I wish you could hear the tone that I say this comment with, as I type it. You truly are talented.
I love that poem.
I have a confession to make: I don’t always “get” poems. It’s been a lifelong thing…but I love this. I “get” the poems that make images come alive in my mind.
Lisa
When I read this my reaction was “YES”. To my knowledge no one knows exactly what heaven is like with only hints in the bible to go by. For me (and I hope it is this way) it is a place where you would choose to be and this is what it meant to me. Thank you, Terry. It is 5:45 AM here and you gave me a great start for my day!
That was powerful…Top of the line Terry..
I’ve been back a week but have had trouble getting back into the Xanga mode. It’s been too hot and I’ve had too much catching up to do at work and at home. But on this cooler early morning Saturday your lovely poem inspires me and your not by Terry poems do too. Thanks.
absolutely incredible poem, Lord Pineapple. thank you for sharing this.
Hi Terry, sorry that i asked a stupid question in my last comment. Well, thanks Three-headed-Sarahs for telling me the banner. ^-^
Wow, this poem is really good. How sad and spiritual at the same time.
Yes, to get thrown in the deep end really causes a person to try their best and raise to the challenge. You really make me think.
I love Reverend Tobias. This poem has beautiful and vivid imagery. Thanks for sharing it with us
Poweder Blue, under the name Jim Heald. It is after Todd Bush’s “She seems a bird.”
Jim
there is something peaceful and disturbing about this at the same time. I don’t know how to explain it.
I should come visiting more often. Your poetry is … good.
Complicated man that you are I enjoy the words I see that belong to you on my site or others’ sites.
Are all British men arrogant?
I don’t know which are all of your blogs but the three headed sarahs are funny and mean ladies LOL
They’ve been nice to me.