The Geese Flew Over My Heart: Poems for Prayer and Reflection
Ebook
This haunting and deeply personal collection of poems springs from the search for God in the pain and vulnerability of life, in the beauty of Creation, in the joy and sacredness of relationship and the pathos of loss, and in all the ordinary and challenging aspects of life. Lyn McCrave's poems, although personal, reflect our common longing for meaning in life, and our desire for union, for relationship.
The poems provide a glimpse into the inner heart and sacred space of the writer, revealing in a raw honesty her vulnerability and openness, and the peace that comes from trust and self abandonment. There is compassion and empathy with the suffering of others when sometimes all that can be done is to stand by them. But there is also hope in seeing life beyond this life, an eternal purpose.
Lyn McCrave writes gentle, faithful prayer-poems set largely in her native Scotland, seasoned with Celtic spirituality. They represent 50 years of writing, and will provide encouragement and consolation.
This collection of short poems has been selected from 50 years of the poet’s ‘journey through life with God.’ McCrave sets out to explore ‘the tideline, / that sacred space, / where frailty meets grace / and wonder’, where vulnerable humanity is connected to a God whose tender love can nevertheless overwhelm. The volume’s title is an image for sudden, inspiring, though sometimes fleeting, intimations of God McCrave has experienced in everyday life, in nature, and, most originally, while practising as a doctor, sharing moments of joy and sorrow with those negotiating miscarriages, birth, sickness or the approach of death. Of the anxious mother of premature triplets, she writes: ‘Her eyes searched me, / and I, remembering Mary, / touched her arm / and was silent.’ In other poems, McCrave’s own intense longing for God’s love is expressed in language which, while often spare, is as physically passionate as the Song of Solomon: here her own vulnerability is exposed. The poems are advertised as ‘for prayer and reflection’. Readers will need to be prepared to bare their own souls to draw on them for these purposes.
A book of gentle and heartfelt poems: some are pure prayer. Many sing of the revelation of God through the natural world, or of God’s presence in times of sadness and times of joy. Some are imbued with the age-old metaphor (common to mystics of different faiths) of erotic love for the soul’s longing for and delight in the divine, and God’s delight in us. Some of the poems would make effective lead-ins for … periods of personal meditation.
If you seek poetic pyrotechnics or intricate language, you will be disappointed. Lyn’s language is simple, but beautifully evocative, with short lines and occasional use of rhyme. It is designed to focus mind and spirit, not display poetic virtuosity.
A book to savour, to read slowly, maybe only one poem a day, so that the words have a chance to resonate in the mind.
This slim volume of poetry is written by a retired doctor with a deep spirituality inspired by the Ignatian tradition, who seeks to find God in all things. Originally from Liverpool, she has lived in Scotland for nearly 50 years. The words are stark at times as the journey of life – both joy and sadness – is explored along with relationships and aspects of God. Poetry lovers will appreciate the starkness and brevity of the words, whilst medics, nurses and those employed in the caring profession will appreciate many of the observations encountered on their professional journeys.
This short book of poems is profoundly moving as the author shares her experiences of life and of God. Lyn does not shy away from the difficulties of faith: the times when it can be hard to see or experience God in the events unfolding in our lives; the times when God seems absent and we feel as if we walk through the wilderness alone. And yet when she has reached ‘the end, the hard place’, Lyn can eventually say, ‘Truly God is my rock and my strength’. This is a book for quiet reflective reading, taking time to savour the language as we move into prayer. A book to return to both when we need solace and when we want to celebrate God in our lives.
These poems are short, each one mostly contained on a single page; but the brevity is of a profound and concentrated kind. No word is wasted. It is a reminder of the pared down richness of many minimalistic art-works, not unlike the music of Anton Webern or Arvo Part. As we ponder each line, we become aware of someone searching for God in the pain and vulnerability of life, also in the joy and sacredness of close human relationships, as well as in the pathos of loss and grief. … Here is a rich seam of spiritual depth and mystery which reaches beyond the rationalising pragmatism of so much contemporary religious thought.
- Title: The Geese Flew Over My Heart: Poems for Prayer and Reflection
- Author: Lyn McCrave
- Publisher: Sacristy Press
- Print Publication Date: 2019
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781789590197, 9781789590173, 1789590175, 9781789590180, 1789590183, 1789590191
- Resource ID: LLS:9781789590197
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-06-15T01:08:28Z
Lyn McCrave was born in Liverpool but has lived in Scotland for 46 years. She is married with two grown daughters and a granddaughter. She is now retired after working as a doctor in the Highlands and Central Scotland but also in England and South Africa. Her home is in Stirlingshire, but she spends part of the year in the Languedoc, France. She has always enjoyed writing and first started writing poetry as a teenager. Since retirement, she has completed a two-year creative writing course at the University of Strathclyde and obtained an Open Studies Certificate in Applied Writing in 2014. She is a member of the Kelvingrove Writer’s Group in Glasgow. In 2016 she finished a three-year training course at the Ignatian Spirituality Centre, Glasgow in Spiritual Accompaniment and now practices in Glasgow.