Quakers in Birmingham, Coventry, Warwick, the Black Country, Walsall, & Sutton Coldfield

Contemplation

Were I to embrace a faith,
acknowledge existence of a spiritual
being,
then maybe
the Quakers would tick the right boxes.

There are good things in their history:
Industrialists, far-sighted caring men and
women
pioneering social welfare,
driven, not by capitalist greed,
but by desire to improve the lot of fellow
men.

Friends
The very term encourages and
welcomes,
implies inclusion and community.
Equality, freedom, peace and truth
their founding watchwords –
cornerstones which sit comfortably with
me.

Were I to embrace a faith,
acknowledge existence of a spiritual
being,
then maybe
the Quakers would tick the right boxes.
The silence would appeal most.

And chocolate.

Carol de Rose

The Groundsman’s Agenda

I’m not a Friend, but a friend of Friends;
Not even a gardener- just a groundsman
Simply tasked.

Keep lush lawns prim;
Winkle weeds from the path;
Garner from gutters wet wedges of weeds;
Heap them for keeping till composted
crumbly rich
And dark as a wedding cake mix.

All items agreed, I’ll work to punctilious
rote,
But like the weeds, keep my own
subversive agenda.

Those small lozenges of lichen scabbed
stone
Laid flat beneath the boundary wall,
Veiled beneath louche grass,
That somehow neither weed nor lawn
Ignores the mower’s blade,
Will be revealed to tell their tale.

Scissor the tough grass back;
Lop encroaching boughs from the other
side
That shatter the sunlight with shade to
obscure;
Scrub the moss mask from the stone
To bare blurred names that somebody
bore,
Breathed living air and passed this way.

After all, a name’s not fame,
It’s just a way to recognise a stone.

Dave Morris, Stourbridge