RULES FOR VISITING A CATHEDRAL
Please remember
to leave your anxieties
in the rack provided:
light a candle.
Listen to the organ
even if it isn't playing.
Make room for something
unexpected to speak.
Find a seat and sit
for a while. The people
who came before
are here beside you.
If you are very quiet
you might even hear angels
playing their instruments
up there on the ceiling.
Let your eyes walk
through a glass garden --
all of these colours
are born from one light.
Taste the silence.
Many varieties are available --
take a sip of each one.
Take it with you when you go.
Andrew Rudd,
Manchester Cathedral Poet in Residence,
June, 2018
Isn't this poem absolutely exquisite? I just want to sit here and drink it in. The words, the images, the feelings it inspires . . . all that it evokes in me. I feel as though all of life is a cathedral, every moment the organ playing, the angels with us, those who came before us with us here beside us. Most of all I want to taste the silence -- so many varieties available he says. Take a sip of each one --- take it with you when you go.
What are the silences I will taste today? What will I notice? What will I feel? What will touch me, what will I sip? How will silence fill me up and overflow for me today? Holy silence -- holy listening.
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