Poetry Review
David Hodges is a monk at the Cistercian Abbey on Caldey Island and a published poet. Many of his poems reflect the monastic life of prayer, seascapes, lives of the saints, themes of suffering and forgiveness as well as a surprising array of contemporary issues.
Here are just a few quotes from poems on the saving work of Christ:
‘From suffering brought peace
turned sorrow into joy.
All guilt and shame
and hate embraced
transfigured by His love…
The Love of Father and Son
now flowing to us
source of love indwelling
allowing us to echo if we dare,
“not my will, but yours
be done.”
Resurrection Life
from ‘Delayed by Rough Seas’
And these telling words that say so much so succinctly:
‘Love, the only bridge
there is to cross
between eternity and time:
suspended over the
abyss of nothingness.
Christ the bridge
absorbs our sin and hate,
transforms us into love,
his arms stretched wide for us
between eternity and time.’
Towards the end of his poem on Emmaus - “They recognised Him at the breaking of the bread,” he dwells on what happens after Jesus made himself known in the breaking of the bread and so disappears from their sight.
‘Christ who had gone from your sight
to teach you to be spiritual
became incarnate once more in both of you.
His life penetrating your minds and hearts
changing you to become like Him.’
And then an interesting climax:
‘It was then you recognised Him
in each other,
for He disappeared from sight,
and you became His hands and feet
when you went and revealed Him
to the others …. how you had recognised Him
at the breaking of the bread.’
From 'Songs from Solitude'
Esther de Waal writes in the front - ‘We all need more poetry in our lives, poetry that is both accessible and profound, poetry that is prayer. What better place to find this than from a Cistercian monk, on an island, off the coast of Wales.’
A theme that runs through some of his poems is the need to transform our desires into self-offering in union with Christ’s total surrender. For Brother Hodges – prayer is “turning desire into self-offering.”
‘We could not bear
all that love and mercy,
so we hung it on a tree
where it surprised us,
turned our sorrow
into joy.
Now it is always with us
at the breaking
of the bread.
Joy of total sacrifice,
moving us towards becoming
ourselves that humble lover
who washed our feet.
From 'Songs of Solitude'
Reviewed and contributed by C.S.
All Brother Hodges' books are available from Caldey Island Shop online [see link below] and some are available from Amazon.
Poems of David Hodges
