Amy Boucher Pye

Tag: poetry

  • Home haiku

    I thought you might enjoy reading the haiku poems my daughter wrote yesterday as part of her English homework. I love how they express so many emotions in so few words.

    Here we are at home
    Forty-seven days and more
    Wishing we were out

    Stuck at home all day
    Isolated, alone, sad
    Apocalyptic

    Overwhelmed with work
    Constantly behind and bored
    Wishing this was done

    Missing friendly laughs
    Contacting only through screens
    Wishing you were here

    People needing masks
    Some dying alone, afraid
    Waiting for the end

    Going for a walk
    Lovely sounds all around me
    Fresh airs renews me

    PJs all we wear
    Goodbye summer holidays
    Missing family

  • Praising God with All the Letters: An Acrostic Poem

    The view from where I sit. Many I know will have to miss church today because of this lovely snow.

    I had to miss church this morning as our daughter isn’t well, so I spent some time writing an acrostic poem, inspired by Psalm 145. David used all of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, in order, to sing his praises to God. I’m no King David, but I enjoyed the challenge.

    Amazing are you, Lord!
    Because of your great love, you’ve given me life.
    Can I ever exhaust the wonders of who you are?
    Day by day I will sing your praises;
    Everything within me gives you thanks,
    For you are worthy of praise.
    Great are you, Lord; so great are you!
    Holy are you; all the earth worships you in wonder,
    I will sing and shout from the rooftops!
    Joy reverberates throughout me, for you are good.
    Keep me as the apple of your eye;
    Light my path, that I may forever follow you;
    Make my way straight, that I will not veer off course.
    No longer do I despair, for you will love me forever;
    Oh worship God always and without end!
    Praise to you, King of Kings,
    Quite how I will restrain myself, I do not know!
    Rejoicing I will be as I ponder your greatness,
    Singing songs of gladness and praise,
    Thanking you for rescuing me from the muck of sin.
    Upon you I set my mind that I will not be swayed,
    Voicing my worries and anxious thoughts
    While wondering at your great mercies.
    Xenial you are, welcoming me to your table,
    You set a place for me to come and eat and be satisfied.
    Zealous will be I about your name; I praise you forever!

    © 2017 by Amy Boucher Pye

  • Waiting – a poem

    Waiting. We all do it, like it or not. Sometimes the waiting is tinged with celebratory anticipation, such as for the birth of a baby. Often it’s surrounded in heartache, with echoes of, “How long, Lord?” Sometimes it surrounds the mundane, such as being stuck in a stifling Tube carriage waiting to exhale.

    What are you waiting for?

    The sweat
    I can feel
    Dribbling
    Down my back

    I can do
    Nothing
    Can’t dab it
    Can’t swab it
    Have to let it slide
    Trickle
    Dribble
    Down my neck
    And my back

    I hold myself in
    Trying
    Wishing
    To make myself smaller

    One arm above me
    Clutching the handrail
    The other hanging
    Laden with bags

    I suck in my breath
    Waiting
    Counting the stops
    Feeling the sweat

    Closed in around me
    To the left
    To the right
    In front of
    And behind me
    People

    One tall and foreboding
    One behind me, unseen
    But pressing against me
    In the crush
    The mass of humanity
    In this metal container

    How long, I wonder
    How long
    The stops come
    And they go
    And finally
    A few leave
    At Green Park

    Some space
    To air out
    To breathe
    To exhale

    And at last I exit
    At last I leave
    The final walk home
    I suck in the air
    London air
    How fresh,
    I know not
    But sweet
    To me

    © 2016 by Amy Boucher Pye

     

    This is part of the synchroblog on waiting, to celebrate the release of Those Who Wait: Finding God in Disappointment, Doubt and Delay by Tanya Marlow – out now. See more here and link up to the synchroblog here.

  • Forgiveness Fridays: Poetry and art for reflection on Good Friday

    Today, Good Friday, defines Forgiveness Fridays. On this holy day, we remember the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. By his death he imparted to us forgiveness. We receive and give forgiveness because of this saving act.

    Some poems and watercolors to consider on this day. My prayer for you is that God’s love poured out through his Son on the cross will envelop you through the Holy Spirit.

    My dad’s rendition of the scourging at the pillar. By Leo Boucher.

    “By his wounds we are healed.” By Leo Boucher.

    Watercolor by Leo Boucher.

  • Easter Poems – Breakfast with Jesus (39)

    Photo: Maarit Lundbäck, flickr
    Photo: Maarit Lundbäck, flickr

    I love this story, especially since editing, some years ago, Conrad Gempf’s excellent book, Mealtime Habits of the Messiah. In my chapter on being Easter people in Finding Myself in Britain, I quote Conrad’s excellent engagement with this biblical passage:

    I love how Conrad (an American living in Britain) opens up this story. Jesus, the king of the universe, is there with his friends, “smoking ’em a few kippers for breakfast.” He doesn’t condemn them; instead he does something surprising. (Conrad Gempf, Mealtime Habits of the Messiah [Grand 
Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005], 18.)

    What does he do? He asks them for some of their catch. They hadn’t caught any fish all night, but one word from him and the net overflows. And yet he says that they were the ones doing the catching.

    How amazing is that.

    Breakfast with Jesus

  • Easter Poems – “Peace be with you!” (38)

    by Meister des Schöppinger Altars, public domain
    by Meister des Schöppinger Altars, public domain

    The disciples are still stunned, hiding out behind locked doors, fearing for their lives. Jesus comes and stands among them, breathing his Spirit on them and bestowing to them his peace. We too can receive his breath of life this day, as we rejoice in the new life we receive from him. May we be Easter people whose song is “Alleluia!”

    Peace be with you

  • Easter Poems – “He is risen!” (37)

     

    Photo: James Emery, flickr
    Photo: James Emery, flickr

    Stunned shock turns into joy when Mary wonders first where Jesus’ body is, and then when he speaks her name, she knows immediately it’s him. I love that – the instant recognition of the one who loves you most who speaks your name. And note Peter in true form, dashing ahead of John to burst into the tomb.

    I pray that this day, you, like Mary, can say, “I have seen the Lord!”

    He is risen!

  • Lenten Poems – “It is finished” (36)

    Watercolor by Leo Boucher.
    Watercolor by Leo Boucher.

    On this most holy of days, I have to go straight to the crucifixion of Jesus and come back later to the wonderful Last Discourse. For on this day we remember the biggest sacrifice our Lord could have made – giving his very life that we might have new life. The story unrolls like a boulder gathering speed as it slams down a hill. At the end, we lay stunned and bruised, wondering what just happened.

    It is Finished

  • Lenten Poems – “The True Vine” (35)

    Photo: Ian Livesey, flickr
    Photo: Ian Livesey, flickr

    Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. He prunes us that we’ll be more fruitful. Painful pruning, but for growth and flourishing. How is he pruning you? How are you growing?

    The True Vine

  • Lenten Poems – “The Welcoming Trinity” (34)

    trinity-893221_1920 (1)Oh how I love these words of Jesus: “I and in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.” What a concept, that the three persons of the Trinity dwell in each other, and we dwell in them, and they in us. Utterly transforming. Mind-boggling. Humbling. Wonderful. On this day when Jesus taught from the Mount of Olives before returning to Bethany, might you not ponder this wonderful mystery?

    I in my Father you in me and I'm in you (1)