October Ministry Musings
The first of October 2026 is designated National Poetry Day and the theme this year is ‘Wonder’. When I was much younger, I thought poetry was a bit of a niche subject. Not something I was moved to explore, thinking they were just rhymes and some I read were truly boring! But I have gradually learned to appreciate some of it more. Not all poetry rhymes. Some tell wonderful stories, some describe wonderful sunsets, sun rises, the feelings felt when walking in a forest or along the seashore. Did you see the poems in the Old Mail last month that children had written about Cosgrove?
Often poems are quite simple but say so much. This first one is by Rose Elliott who lived in Cosgrove and who I knew years ago. It was the first poem in an anthology of poems she had written.
Moonlight on a Frosty Night:
Moonlight; magic glory of the night;
Transparent beams that steal beneath the darkened trees
and turn the cottage thatch to silver strands of light;
then on the rippling river glean to flow in liquid silver ‘neath the bridge.
Ethereal light enshrines the silent fields
all blades of grass grow mystical;
each stick and stone becomes a gem as silver light transforms all common things
and darkened earth melts into heavenly light.
And from Emily Brontë
Fall, leaves fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day; Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
And another from Ruth Ahmed
There is something so special in the early leaves drifting from the trees
as if we are all to be allowed a chance to peel, to refresh, to start again.
These three poems are descriptive from what has been observed, but they are also imaginative, painting a picture that we are able to see in our minds eye by reading them. And they mean different things to each one of us. I’m sure you have read something that has spoken to you. Often a few words in a card you’ve received or something read somewhere that lingers in your mind, where it was written forgotten.
I especially like the last small poem by Ruth Ahmed. It speaks of a chance to peel, and that for me means letting things go. Those things that hinder, that absorb our time, our lives. There will be many things I’m sure that do that in all our lives.
Autumn is a good time to refresh and start again.
God bless.
Mary
Lay Minister (CofE Reader) South Cleley Benefice of Churches in Potterspury Yardley Gobion Furtho Cosgrove and Wicken