Issue 38 Summer web 23 - Flipbook - Page 96
The Hummingbird was an Afterthought
by Oliver Comins
Trees growing in this place did not last long –
cut for building and cut for burning.
Eventually, with finesse and time,
they were cut to make the shape of other things.
Whose deft blades teach this wood to speak?
Trees become leaves and fruit they never were,
make sea creatures walk upon the land,
are shaped to resonate a hallowed sound.
A Linden Antiphon
by Paul Munden
2021
Our human hearts
take solace and shelter
within forests of stone.
The linden trees
must rise elsewhere.
Here, in the city, we are flattered by a reredos
of a proper vintage – a reminder for most of us
we only make the shape of who we are,
not a tiny hummingbird’s beechwood wings.
But lift up your thoughts
to the interleaving
linden voices
in the gracefully carved
and cloistered air.
© Oliver Comins
© Paul Munden
Above, ArchiCantiores at St Mary Abchurch in March 2023,
Comfort in Winter’s Cold - Credit Hugh Wedderburn.
