SOUL SURMISE

A BIG DECISION? AN OPEN DOOR? CUT THE CORD!

“And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes
Clear your heart
Cut the cord...”

-      From Human by The Killers

Ten years ago, this was the lyric that I carried all the way through the process of leaving a job I loved in Queen’s University Chaplaincy to go back into parish ministry at Fitzroy Presbyterian Church.

For me, the invitation to consider becoming the minister at Fitzroy was a huge honour and I had to think about it but I had never considered going back into Church life. Fitzroy’s potential excited me but I was nervous every time I caught sight of that open door.

Being a Presbyterian process, it took eight months between the initial phone call to think about it and to actually being installed as minister. Throughout that wait I sang over and over again this spiritual wisdom of Brandon Flowers.

I had to close my eyes and seek God in ways I had never done. Prayer, connecting with God, was vital. If I was going to take the risk that this would be for me and my family, I needed to find time to talk it over with God and to listen. I would need to be sure that the fit was right and that I was taking the next step in my following of Jesus.

Next up I had to clear my heart in readiness for a spiritual change, the way we cleared our house for the physical move. I needed to take all the selfish ideas of my own which might have been the selfishness for safety or the selfishness of being flattered that Fitzroy were interested and what a prestigious thing to be their minister. The heart needed cleared of me, to be given the holy space that might allow God to fill that heart with what was good.

In the end, after all was weighed up and without any doubt in my heart and mind that God was calling us to go... we had to cut the cord!

This last step is the trickiest of all. It takes courage. It means leaving where all is safe and comfortable and jumping with faith and trust into the new world that beckons. To move on means not looking back. It is done and I am thankful to these words as the soundtrack to the entire process. Like Paul in Philippians, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Perhaps you are in one of life's tricky spots. A big decision. An open door beckons but... I think The Killers are suggesting we take a deep breath, then gather up all of the courage we can muster and then... a step of faith... cut the cord!

THE MERCY NOW PRAYER

Mary Gauthier sang in Fitzroy on Saturday night. The morning after I used her song Mercy Now in our Fitzroy Prayers. 

I had used a favourite pastoral passage the day before Mary’s gig, at a funeral service. Hebrews 4: 14 & 15 tells us that God doesn’t live way out in space but, through Jesus’ incarnation, understands all that we are going through. 

As a result of the work of Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension Hebrews (4:16) goes on: -

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Our confidence comes through Christ’s work. The veil has been torn in two. Humans can now enter God’s presence with confidence.

So, I then used these verses of Mary Gauthier’s Mercy Now to lead us into silences when the congregation could bring people on their mind to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace.

 

My brother could use a little mercy now

He’s a stranger to freedom

He’s shackled to his fears and doubts

The pain that he lives in is

Almost more than living will allow

I love my brother, and he could use some mercy now

 

Bring members of your family to the throne of grace… to find mercy now…

 

My Church and my Country could use a little mercy now

As they sink into a poisoned pit

That’s going to take forever to climb out

They carry the weight of the faithful

Who follow ‘em down

I love my Church and Country and they could use some mercy now

 

Bring your church and country to the throne of grace… to find mercy now…

 

Every living thing could use a little mercy now

Only the hand of grace can end the race

Towards another mushroom cloud

People in power, well

They’ll do anything to keep their crown

I love life, and life itself could use some mercy now

 

Bring the life around you to the throne of grace… to find mercy now…

 

Yea, we all could use a little mercy now

I know we don’t deserve it

But we need it anyhow

We hang in the balance

Dangle ‘tween hell and hallowed ground

Every single one of us could use some mercy now

Every single one of us could use some mercy now

 

Bring yourself to the throne of grace… to find mercy now…

Lord, answer our prayers. May those we have brought before you know that in anything and everything this week, they can approach your throne of grace with confidence. May they experience your mercy.

In Jesus name… Amen

MUMFORD & SONS - BLIND LEADING THE BLIND

The Grenfell Tower tragedy has inspired two songs released in recent days. First we had Guy Garvey taking it on in White Noise White Heat from the new Elbow record Giants Of All Sizes. Now it is Marcus Mumford on the new Mumford & Sons single Blind Leading The Blind.

Both songs deal with the injustice of the British class system. Whatever which way we look at Brexit the evidence of an acute division between rich and poor is evident. Sadly it became most tragically exposed in the 72 deaths in that Grenfell Tower fire.

For Marcus Mumford Grenfell is personal. Up in the night with his one year old daughter he watched the tragedy unfold out of his west London apartment. He attended the Memorial Service. 

In this new song, Mumford take us all on, himself too. This is a song that asks questions of our society, our leaders and our own personal actions. In a world where he fears that the blind are leading the blind, Mumford asks us to bring the injustice back down from the political to the personal.

Awhile back Radio 4 presenter John Humphrys took a swipe at Pause For Thought on BBC Radio claiming it to be pointless and dull, just people telling us to be nice to each other.

Jesus refrain “Love your neighbour” is not pointless dull or simply being nice. “Love your neighbour” is a revolutionary act. It is a subversive rebellion against everything that John Humphrys was talking about as he presented radio.

It is that revolutionary potential of “love your neighbour” that Mumford & Sons seem to be advocating on Blind Leading The Blind. 

 

I need to know the name of my neighbor

I am not known if I’m not seen or heard

 

We need to love our neighbour. It starts by asking their name. It is about being prepared to stop making them invisible. Relationship dilutes our fears. 

The lack of love for neighbour, even the awareness of neighbour enrages Mumford. The cynicism and apathy in our society causes him to use the F word that some will spend all their time obsessing about. It will be travesty if we are more concerned about the use the word than the injustice that it is used to rage against. 

In the end the potency of revolution is profoundly simple:

 

So, put your hand in mine tonight

And I will be here

When you’re crying out tonight

I will be here

 

These could be the words of Marcus Mumford as he seeks to be there for his injustice stricken neighbours or they could even be the words of God himself. Or perhaps the two might blend as the love of God is transmitted in the outstretched hand of a compassionate human being. 

I need to ask your name!

SONGS OF AMERICA - STOCKI'S JULY 4 PLAYLIST 2019

On this American Independence Day... let me take you on a romantic journey across the country's vastness... celebrating its wonder... and prophetically critiquing its failings...

 

AMERICANA - RAY DAVIES

(from Americana)

 

LONE STAR - ROMANTICA

(from Shadowlands)

 

TUPELO - JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT

(from The Nashville Sound)

 

TUSCON TRAIN - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

(from Western Stars)

 

AMERICAN TUNE - SHAWN COLVIN

(from Uncovered)

 

INDIANA - CHRIS WILSON & THE HERESY

(from Downfall EP)

 

WELCOME HOME - OVER THE RHINE

(from a single))

 

CALIFORNIA - DREW HOLCOMB & THE NEIGHBOURS

(from Souvenir)

 

TIME SPENT IN LA - DAWES

(from Nothing Is Wrong)

 

LOS ANGELES - LUKE SITAL-SINGH

(from A Golden State)

 

GRACELAND - CHRIS MARTIN

(from BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge 2017

 

NEW YORK MORNING - ELBOW

(The Take Off And Landing Of Everything)

 

MONA LISAS AND MAD HATTERS - THE KILLERS

(from Revamp; The Songs Of Elton John and Bernie Taupin)

 

SING ME A SONG - COWBOY JUNKIES

(from All That Reckoning)

 

AMERICAN SOUL - U2

(from Songs Of Experience)

 

LAND OF THE FREE - THE KILLERS

(single)

 

AMERiCAN LANDFILL - SAM PHILLIPS

(from World Of Sticks)

 

BIRMINGHAM SUNDAY - RHIANNON GIDDENS

(from Freedom Highway)

 

CHANGE - MAVIS STAPLES

(from We Get By)

 

GLORY (from The Motion Picture ‘Selma”) COMMON & JOHN LEGEND

(from the single) 

THE KILLERS - HUMAN

When The Killers released Human, the lead off single of their third studio record Day and Age, it caused, more discussion about a pop song lyric than for many a long year. “Are we human or are we dancer” was so grammatically askew that it drew some to conclude that for “dancer” it actually should read “denser.” That most believed it to be “dancer” led to discussion list damnation. It seems ironic that perhaps the most provocative and deep lyric to have stuttered from a rock singer in years should be so maligned. In the debate about the grammar, it could be argued that poetic licence is all about such convenient shifts from plural to singular.

Anyone who knew anything about this thoughtful Las Vegas band from their previous albums, that have catapulted them onto the coat-tails of U2 and into the stratosphere of stadium-rock-with-meaning, should have known that if there was something out of kilter in singer and songwriter Brandon Flowers chorus it should be pondered a little longer; this serious young man with a Mormon world view must have had some reasoning going on.

"It's taken from a quote by [author Hunter S.] Thompson. ... 'We're raising a generation of dancers,' and I took it and ran,” Flowers would explain, “I guess it bothers people that it's not grammatically correct, but I think I'm allowed to do whatever I want. 'Denser'? I hadn't heard that one. I don't like 'denser.' " The obvious follow up question was whether Flowers agreed with Thompson’s assessment?

"I think that I do, and I don't want to be too much of a preacher," he said. "I say that it's a mild social statement, and that's all I'm gonna say. We're still trying to write the best pop songs we can write." It seems to be a similar strategy to the one Jesus took when he dropped spiritual explosives into the hearts as well as ears of his hearers. The explosive does not need spelling out; that might diminish its potency. “Those with ears to hear...”

No doubt Thompson meant a lot of things when he described a generation of dancers. What Flowers does is bring it back to one overriding need; to restore our humanity. The world has a long history of de-humanising. One of the most powerful means of healing is to re-humanise. To give people back their dignity; whether nations or individuals.

That Flowers declares that he is on his knees looking for an answer is sure to indicate that for him the answer to his question is in the human soul and its connection with the Divine. Racism, war, materialism, image and sadly many times religion has de-humanising effects. The Killers Human is a song of prophetic stimulus because it is attempting to re-humanise, those whose humanity has been stolen by a culture that de-humanizes.

JONNY FITCH - AFRICA (WAVING AT YOU) - Single Launched

This morning in Fitzroy we launched a single. Africa (Waving At You) by Jonny Fitch. It's a co write between myself and the very talented Jonny and is now available on Bandcamp!

I wrote the lyric on the 12 hour bus journey from Arua to Kampala on our first trip to Uganda in 2015. The waving was my way in, as on that journey every mile or two Ugandan children were waving at us, waving at them.

More serious is my prayer. It is basically that hope that, as Uganda and Africa develops, it doesn't get the bad habits of our wealth. Unaccountable wealth is over rated. Africans have riches in many more important things that I hope don't get squeezed out with decadence and greed.

The last lines might not be the best I have ever written but, when I shared them with my brothers and sisters in Onialeku Primary School at its opening in August 2015, they became my favourite!

Jonny has turned it into the catchiest of songs and added the "My name is not Muzungu" line. He has added that African sound of exuberance and the children you hear are the children of Onialeku Primary School in Arua, West Nile, Uganda. 

All proceeds from the sale of the song go towards a new building for the Nursery School in Onialeku. Feel free to donate more than the pound you are asked for!

 

buy the Africa (Waving At You) at jonnyfitch.bandcamp.com

 

Africa, I am waving at you

And you always wave back and smile

Roads teeming with fascination

Red dust mile after red dust mile.

 

Africa, I am staring at you

All the wildlife through the trees

Elephants under the mangos

The smell of your welcoming breeze.

 

Africa, I am singing with you

Your joyful songs of being free

Ubuntu, what a great refrain

Without you, I can’t be me.

 

Africa, I am praying for you

Water and education and health

That you don’t get all our poverty

With justice, peace and wealth. 

 

My name is not muzungu

We may have a different skin

But all of our blood is red

The same grace colour

That Jesus bled.

 

TAKE ME TO THE PLACE - A Song And A Story For Northern Ireland's Day Of Reflection

 

 

"Take me to the place where your heart hurts most

Lead me through the dark world gates down there

Where all the ghosts of sorrow and pain

And fear and despair stay hiding

And well walk right through to our own way, our own place"

- from Take Me To The Place by Deacon Blue

I had an amazing experience using this song in a Day Of Reflection event in 2012. June 21st, the longest day is when Northern Ireland takes time to remember those who were injured or lost loved ones in the Troubles. Invited to be part of an event I reached for this amazing pastoral song by Deacon Blue. It was a b-side, not one of their best known songs.

After the event a woman asked to speak to me. She had lost her husband near the end of the Troubles. Loyalist paramilitaries walked into the printers that he was working in and shot him. He was not involved in The Troubles. He had been a Deacon Blue fan and on the way to the event we were at she had reached for a Deacon Blue CD as a way of remembering. When I played this she sensed that something beyond us was happening. It was moving for us both and a reminder to me how important music is in our healing.

Donald and Emily Saliers wrote a fascinating book together called A Song To Sing, A Life To Live. The fascination is that both of this father and daughter duo are musicians, Don a Professor of Theology and Music and Emily one half of the popular rock duo The Indigo Girls; thus bringing Saturday night and Sunday morning together in their ponderings. Sharing their own personal loss of Emily’s younger sister they write, “Music was one of our primary ways of coming to terms with her death.” I believe that one of the conduits for God’s comfort is lament.

The Bible is full of it - angry, frustrated, painful. Songs of lament do something deep in our souls. They can drill to the nerve centre of our pain, somehow empathise, soothe and mysteriously be companions as we journey through dark days. As a pastor I often give friends or parishioners a song or some music that will be a resource through their grief.

Deacon Blue’s song Take Me To The Place is the most perfect catharsis song I have ever heard. It was written in memory and dedicated to Italian Scottish photographer Oscar Mazaroli. Growing up in Church writer Ricky Ross has a real sensitivity for such scared places and spaces and based the song on the hymn Abide With Me and the traditional melody “eventide.” It’s stunning poignancy in Ricky’s yearning breaking voice, Lorraine Macintosh’s angelic wail, the sorrowful stark piano, the words and the tune, opens doors to the soul and let’s out the raw ripped up heart pain and let’s in some healing holy balm and the daring and courageous almost alien thought of hopefulness and grace.

I offer it as song to be used on every Day Of Reflection.

 

 

 

 

 

"Take me to the place where your heart hurts most

Lead me through the dark world gates down there

Where all the ghosts of sorrow and pain

And fear and despair stay hiding

And well walk right through to our own way, our own place"

- from Take Me To The Place by Deacon Blue

I had an amazing experience using this song in a Day Of Reflection event in 2012. June 21st, the longest day is when Northern Ireland takes time to remember those who were injured or lost loved ones in the Troubles. Invited to be part of an event I reached for this amazing pastoral song by Deacon Blue. It was a b-side, not one of their best known songs.

After the event a woman asked to speak to me. She had lost her husband near the end of the Troubles. Loyalist paramilitaries walked into the printers that he was working in and shot him. He was not involved in The Troubles. He had been a Deacon Blue fan and on the way to the event we were at she had reached for a Deacon Blue CD as a way of remembering. When I played this she sensed that something beyond us was happening. It was moving for us both and a reminder to me how important music is in our healing.

Donald and Emily Saliers wrote a fascinating book together called A Song To Sing, A Life To Live. The fascination is that both of this father and daughter duo are musicians, Don a Professor of Theology and Music and Emily one half of the popular rock duo The Indigo Girls; thus bringing Saturday night and Sunday morning together in their ponderings. Sharing their own personal loss of Emily’s younger sister they write, “Music was one of our primary ways of coming to terms with her death.” I believe that one of the conduits for God’s comfort is lament.

The Bible is full of it - angry, frustrated, painful. Songs of lament do something deep in our souls. They can drill to the nerve centre of our pain, somehow empathise, soothe and mysteriously be companions as we journey through dark days. As a pastor I often give friends or parishioners a song or some music that will be a resource through their grief.

Deacon Blue’s song Take Me To The Place is the most perfect catharsis song I have ever heard. It was written in memory and dedicated to Italian Scottish photographer Oscar Mazaroli. Growing up in Church writer Ricky Ross has a real sensitivity for such scared places and spaces and based the song on the hymn Abide With Me and the traditional melody “eventide.” It’s stunning poignancy in Ricky’s yearning breaking voice, Lorraine Macintosh’s angelic wail, the sorrowful stark piano, the words and the tune, opens doors to the soul and let’s out the raw ripped up heart pain and let’s in some healing holy balm and the daring and courageous almost alien thought of hopefulness and grace.

I offer it as song to be used on every Day Of Reflection.

 

 

 

 

ROMANTICA - GOD WALKS ON THE WATER

 

“Beautiful girl is a beautiful thing

A beautiful song is something you can sing

If you're feeling low the girl can hold your hand

But a beautiful song can understand”

- from God Walks On the Water by Romantica 

 

I knew that day when I left Lindsay’s house that it would be the last time I would see her. I found the whole thing deeply painful. Lindsay was 23, we had worked together on a project in South Africa, Alain her husband is one of my dearest friends. She was suffering in a way I was not. Alain was suffering in a way I was not. But my suffering was watching my friends go through the most awful suffering of all: cancer ripping them apart by a premature death through an awful disease. 

As I got into my car I wondered how to deal with my feelings. I immediately reached for my iPod and scrambled to put a playlist together that would help me untangle my deep emotions on the journey home. 

Tolstoy said art is one of the means of intercourse between man and man. I would go further and say that it’s a means of prayer between humans and God. On that drive home I used songs to wrestle with God and my own soul about what was going on in my life. Songs are a potent resource for dealing with pain. Someone said that “The blues is what you get when life ain’t right.” 

I believe that one of the conduits for God’s comfort is lament. The Bible is full of it - angry, frustrated, painful. Songs of lament do something deep in our souls. They can drill to the nerve centre of our pain, somehow empathise, soothe and mysteriously be companions as we journey through dark days. 

Since the days of David’s Psalms and Jeremiah’s Laments human beings have used the song to understand. Included in the Psalms are a collection of questioning prayers, laments or blues when the believe can not only show confusion and frustration with how the world is but actually rage at God and ask interrogate him on what he might think he is doing in the world. 

Looking to a song for consolation has been a habit of humanity since Saul brought a young David to his Palace to play the harp and soothe his soul. That afternoon on a tearful, melancholy trip home praying for Lindsay and Alain I thumbed up Minneapolis band Romantica’s God Walks On The Water. Songwriter Ben Kyle grew up in Belfast before moving Stateside and his little theological twists in his tales of life and death betray his dad’s occupation as a Pastor. God Walks On The Water is a stunningly beautiful song with a sweet mournful fiddle that catches you just guessing on this side of knowing. 

It’s a song where there are curses and blessings on the journey of life that causes the kind of deep heartbreak that Lindsay’s husband, parents, brother, sisters and friends were suffering so acutely as they headed towards a reunion of the other side of death’s earthly sting. The line that nails catharsis on the head is,

“God walks on the water

I walk through the rain

One day we're gonna walk together

When he comes back again”

Indeed it was a song that understood!

 

Romantica play in Fitzroy on June 17th @ 7.30. There are no tickets. Walk in and pay a donation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Beautiful girl is a beautiful thing

A beautiful song is something you can sing

If you're feeling low the girl can hold your hand

But a beautiful song can understand”

- from God Walks On the Water by Romantica 

 

I knew that day when I left Lindsay’s house that it would be the last time I would see her. I found the whole thing deeply painful. Lindsay was 23, we had worked together on a project in South Africa, Alain her husband is one of my dearest friends. She was suffering in a way I was not. Alain was suffering in a way I was not. But my suffering was watching my friends go through the most awful suffering of all: cancer ripping them apart by a premature death through an awful disease. 

As I got into my car I wondered how to deal with my feelings. I immediately reached for my iPod and scrambled to put a playlist together that would help me untangle my deep emotions on the journey home. 

Tolstoy said art is one of the means of intercourse between man and man. I would go further and say that it’s a means of prayer between humans and God. On that drive home I used songs to wrestle with God and my own soul about what was going on in my life. Songs are a potent resource for dealing with pain. Someone said that “The blues is what you get when life ain’t right.” 

I believe that one of the conduits for God’s comfort is lament. The Bible is full of it - angry, frustrated, painful. Songs of lament do something deep in our souls. They can drill to the nerve centre of our pain, somehow empathise, soothe and mysteriously be companions as we journey through dark days. 

Since the days of David’s Psalms and Jeremiah’s Laments human beings have used the song to understand. Included in the Psalms are a collection of questioning prayers, laments or blues when the believe can not only show confusion and frustration with how the world is but actually rage at God and ask interrogate him on what he might think he is doing in the world. 

Looking to a song for consolation has been a habit of humanity since Saul brought a young David to his Palace to play the harp and soothe his soul. That afternoon on a tearful, melancholy trip home praying for Lindsay and Alain I thumbed up Minneapolis band Romantica’s God Walks On The Water. Songwriter Ben Kyle grew up in Belfast before moving Stateside and his little theological twists in his tales of life and death betray his dad’s occupation as a Pastor. God Walks On The Water is a stunningly beautiful song with a sweet mournful fiddle that catches you just guessing on this side of knowing. 

It’s a song where there are curses and blessings on the journey of life that causes the kind of deep heartbreak that Lindsay’s husband, parents, brother, sisters and friends were suffering so acutely as they headed towards a reunion of the other side of death’s earthly sting. The line that nails catharsis on the head is,

“God walks on the water

I walk through the rain

One day we're gonna walk together

When he comes back again”

Indeed it was a song that understood!

 

Romantica play in Fitzroy on June 17th @ 7.30. There are no tickets. Walk in and pay a donation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOLY SPIRIT by VICTORIA WILLIAMS - SONG FOR PENTECOST

 

There was a Pentecost Sunday, back in the day. I was doing my radio show on BBC Radio Ulster and used the Holy Spirit as the obvious theme for the evening. Two songs in and I got a text from my friend Geoff predicting early that I would play Michelle Shocked’s version of this Victoria Williams’ song!

I had forgotten about it! How? As I scanned all my CDs I had somehow missed it. I immediately got on the phone and spoke to Tim, Janice’s cousin, who lived with us at the time. Telling Tim where to look in my thousands of CDs he found it, then drove it to the BBC where I was able to include it at the end of my one hour show. 

It was worth the drama. It’s a great song. As songs go, it is the best expression of the energy and indeed joy that Pentecost conjures, the Holy Spirit being poured out on the heads of a motley crew of Jesus’ followers, chosen by Jesus himself to transform the entire world. 

Michelle Shocked with its Gospel harmonies gives a Pentecostal Church feel to the song. Perfect. Thank you Geoff for the reminder!

Victoria Williams’ music was infused with the spiritual impact of Christian conversion. Williams is looking everywhere she goes and the song finds the Spirit on Lake Bistineau and in the New York City subway. In the former she is singing with friends around a campfire and in the latter receiving the generosity of a stranger. 

In conclusion, Victoria makes her declaration that is perfect on this Pentecost Day:

 

“I have seen it on a mountaintop

I have felt it beneath stars

I have felt it in a churchyard and even in some bars

It will make you laugh, make you cry, make your heart go ping

Yeah the Spirit, Holy Spirit will make you shout and want to sing

That the Spirit, Holy Spirit is flowing”

 

Utterly joy pumping!

KARINE POLWART - I BURN BUT I AM NOT CONSUMED... Trump v Isle Of Lewis

 

So many of us are uneasy at the State Visit of US President Donald Trump to the UK. For my own catharsis, I have been listening to Karine Polwart’s brilliant spoken word piece I Burn But I Am Not Consumed, the title of which is also the motto of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland!

Karine Polwart’s record Laws of Gravity soared to the highest echelons of my Record of 2018. I was intoxicated by her voice and word play.

There is no better showcase for the power of her poetry than I Burn, But I Not Consumed. It is a protest song against the 45th President of the United States Of America, setting his narcissistic personality in the long, long history of the Isle of Lewis where is mother came from.

Polwart’s literary flair is more sensitive than her content:

 

Your mother was a wee girl once, 

who played upon my rocky shore. 

And you, you are broken boy, 

and you want more and more and more. 

You build a tower. You build a wall, 

You live in fear that they might fall. 

You who see nothing but your own face 

in the sheen of The Hudson River. 

 

Polwart sets Trump and all his Presidential pomp against the power of nature, history, the planet and maybe through the title, God.  Polwart wonders how the marbled, metamorphic rock of Lewis,  two-thirds the age of Earth and the waves that crash against it will judge the son of one of the island’s daughters.

It is gripping, provocative and brilliant.

 

A balancing is yet to come, 

although by then you may be gone 

and leave a desert to your sons and daughters. 

Still, these waters, they will rise, 

the North Sea haar will cover your eyes, 

despite your appetite for lies. 

and your disregard for truth.

 

Your unease at images of Trump in the UK might be eased with a few listens…