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Packed with riches yet highly accessible, The Heart's Time is at its core a series of short, resonant poems for each weekday of Lent and Easter.
It will appeal to existing poetry lovers as well as those who want to start exploring how poems can be a resource for our spiritual lives, whether or not they are written with a consciously Christian intent.
Poets often address subjects our culture seeks to avoid, and poetry demands that we 'slow down to the heart's time' in order to discover deeper levels of meaning than at first appear.
Janet Morley offers her own skilful and reflective commentaries on a fascinating themed sequence of both familiar and unexpected poems, including works by Margaret Atwood, St Augustine, Charles Causley, E. E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, Carol Ann Duffy, Ruth Fainlight, U. A. Fanthorpe, Robert Frost, Seamus Heaney, George Herbert, Elizabeth Jennings, Denise Levertov, Roger McGough, Adrienne Rich, Christina Rossetti, R. S. Thomas and Rowan Williams.
Ash Wednesday The Bright Field R. S. Thomas 3
Thursday Trinity Sunday George Herbert 6
Friday Lent Jean M. Watt 8
Saturday On a Theme by Thomas Merton Denise Levertov 10
Week 1
'What country do we come from?' - Expressing our longings
Monday Homesick Carol Ann Duffy 15
Tuesday Beauty so ancient and so new Augustine 18
Wednesday Before I got my eye put out Emily Dickinson 21
Thursday The Call Charlotte Mew 24
Friday I Saw him Standing Ann Griffiths 27
Saturday Speaking in tongues Kei Miller 30
Week 2
'How can it need so agonized an effort?' - Struggle
Monday Alas my Lord Christina Rossetti 35
Tuesday Affliction George Herbert 39
Wednesday It is dangerous to read newspapers Margaret Atwood 42
Thursday A Poison Tree William Blake 45
Friday Thou art indeed just Gerard Manley Hopkins 48
Saturday The Wrong Beds Roger McGough 51
Week 3
'At home in the house of the living' - Being where we are
Monday Pax D. H. Lawrence 57
Tuesday Friends' Meeting House, Frenchay, Bristol U. A. Fanthorpe 60
Wednesday i am a little church E. E. Cummings 63
Thursday The Moment Margaret Atwood 66
Friday Rembrandt's Late Self-Portraits Elizabeth Jennings 69
Saturday The Trees Philip Larkin 72
Week 4
'A reckless way of going' - Facing suffering and death
Monday Epitaph Sir Walter Ralegh 77
Tuesday The Soul's Garment Margaret Cavendish 80
Wednesday Because I could not stop for Death Emily Dickinson 82
Thursday Deaths of Flowers E. J. Scovell 85
Friday On his blindness John Milton 88
Saturday The problem Adrienne Rich 91
Week 5
'There are quite different things going on' - Altered
perspectives
Monday The Kingdom R. S. Thomas 97
Tuesday The Skylight Seamus Heaney 100
Wednesday Rublev Rowan Williams 103
Thursday Sheep Fair Day Kerry Hardie 107
Friday Afterwards U. A. Fanthorpe 111
Saturday The Donkey G. K. Chesterton 114
Week 6
'Love's austere and lonely offices' - Holy Week
Monday Those Winter
Sundays Robert Hayden 119
Tuesday Fire and Ice Robert Frost 122
Wednesday I am the great sun Charles Causley 124
Maundy
Thursday Love George Herbert 128
Good Friday Good Friday, 1613.
Riding Westward John Donne 131
Holy Saturday Ikon: The Harrowing of Hell Denise Levertov 135
Week 7
'Never turning away again' - Resurrection
Easter Monday i thank You God E. E. Cummings 141
Tuesday Food for risen Michael Symmons bodies - II Roberts 144
Wednesday The Angel Ruth Fainlight 147
Thursday Resurrection R. S. Thomas 150
Friday A Birthday Christina Rossetti 153
Saturday And that will be heaven Evangeline Paterson 156
Acknowledgements 159