Author Archives: tyldesleyboy

My uncle died because someone threw a stone Only seven he was 1919 Careless boys at careless games Hit him on the head A headache that didn’t go away Soon after he was found dead   And grown men with their tanks and guns Still are throwing stones But now it’s called artillery Still leadsContinue reading “Stones”

Catamaran on a deep blue sea Comino across the bay The Holy Father steps ashore A beautiful sunny day   Here I came with Margaret Eleven short years ago A happy day on Gozo Could have stayed for more   Peaceful holiday in the Med Walks beside the sea Swimming in the Blue Lagoon HappyContinue reading “A Memory Stirred”

Hotels are just like monasteries Long corridors and rooms And common places to eat and drink No wonder I felt at home   Hotel Westport suited me In the days gone by Margaret and I on holiday My! How the years do fly   And Charlie rested in that spot Before he made the climbContinue reading “Head for Heights”

Prayer does not change God It changes me Something of the Spirit enters me I am not the same as I was before The Lord who knocks upon my door Sits down with me and all is changed within   And I can change the world by changing me Become more wise more gentle hopefullyContinue reading “Spiritual Power”

Croagh Patrick Mountain sits on the southern shore of Clew Bay in County Mayo, on Ireland’s west coast. It is conical shaped and stands 2,510 feet high. It is an inviting mountain, big enough to be a challenge and small enough for most people to climb. A white scar along its flank tells you howContinue reading “The Climb”

His name was William Elliott An orphan long ago And a choirboy in Sunderland He left a note to tell us so Written on a service sheet It fell beneath the bench And William fell in Flanders Fighting with the French   1897 it was The day he wrote his note Wanting to be rememberedContinue reading “Writing”

After two years of study in Rome, in my mid thirties, I was appointed to the student house in Canterbury, Kent, to teach. When I arrived there I was asked to teach Medical Ethics, a subject I was not especially trained in and one that did not appeal to me at all. I knew somethingContinue reading “Moral Theology”

Dun Briste – broken headland Fearful frightening sight Blowholes in the meadow there to see Howling wind and angry water Waves of frothing foam Place of lonely danger Stay away from me   Cliffs of Ceide cliffs of mind Sheer drop to the sea Ragged rocks in layers facing north Three hundred feet of nothingnessContinue reading “North by North-West”

  A canny old Australian priest that I knew in Rome, once made a humorous comment about a fellow priest, who was a prolific writer of books. ‘He has never been guilty of an unpublished thought,’ he said of him. The old priest was an historian and therefore much given to precision and exactitude inContinue reading “Past, Present, Future”

Canute sat down beside the sea And waited for the tide He knew what the result would be Damp feet and ruined pride The power of God is greater Than any word of mine The rule of kings is temporal Everlasting the divine   Mary Whitehouse set herself Against a coming tide The break upContinue reading “Tides”

Waiting for the bombs to stop It disturbs our minds We don’t want to see this cruelty Though we know the world’s unkind Displaced people everywhere Children with no home Separated parents Hanging on a phone   Now I read statistics Is this what’s going on! Sixty-three thousand reports of rape In the United KingdomContinue reading “Be Converted”

We all tell lies I read today Especially when in power We carefully manage what we say Don’t want to give the game away We hold on to the hour   We are not victims of this war Though we are put upon We rise above the engine’s roar We stand and read the trueContinue reading “I Was Born For This”

I want a sunshine holiday Margaret said to me I scoured the Mediterranean To see what I could see I settled then on Malta Sliema suited fine And off we went one September day Jet 2 the airline   We had a day in Gozo And the Blue Lagoon Visited Mdina Medieval town Special islandContinue reading “Malta”

Her name is Iryna From Kharkiv in Ukraine She is sheltering in a monastery On Romanian terrain Three days it took to get here Husband left behind She has her children with her The war is so unkind   Now at rest and safe at last Iryna goes to pray She prays for president PutinContinue reading “Yellow and Blue”

John 5:1-3. 5-16   Our sorrows can become our friends Our familiar mournful face The hurts our hearts have suffered Now centre stage their place   No suffering like mine The mournful song we sing There is no rescue coming There is no anything   Others must take care of me They see how hardContinue reading “Healing at Bethzatha”