Church


The Moor

It was like a church to me.
I entered it on soft foot, 
Breath held like a cap in the hand.
It was quiet.

What God was there made himself felt,
Not listened to, in clean colours
That brought a moistening of the eye,
In movement of the wind over the grass.

There were no prayers said.  But stillness
Of the heart's passions - that was praise
Enough; and the mind's cession
Of its kingdom.  I walked on,
Simple and poor, while the air crumbled
And broke on me generously as bread.

R.S. Thomas