For Nepal

We don't often
get to church these days.

Sundays ( seem to me)

to stand in silent rows

each one
waiting

to turn up again

as if the last one
had just left.

I miss the prayers and hymns
so my heart soars across
the field beside our home
to where I hear the Church bells ring.

I imagine the raised faces
to the pulpit
and the heads bowed in humble prayer

the sun slanting through
the stain glass
that makes pretty patterns of God
on the floor.

I imagine the hearts looking forward
to the coming kingdom
the old ones gathering to talk
after the service,
then home
to the ritual
laying of the table.

Today I will pray for the people of Nepal.
And wonder if they did too.

On this the
first
and
loveliest
day
of
the
week