John Twisleton’s poems

  Cissbury Ring Offshoot of the South Downs The hill fort towers over Sussex and the sea Crowned with gorse, a vantage point, Cissbury Ring, where ponies roam. Your dykes and ramparts cover mines Twelve thousand years old Where humans first dug your flint  To be armed against each other. More lately machine guns fired At ships and aircraft in the last World War Exploiting your heights, as humankind Has done for twelve millennia. Looking over Seven Sisters and Brighton,  Worthing and the Isle of Wight Cissbury Ring is a scenic platform  And pretext for a poem. John Twisleton 23 August 2023

Queen of Heaven  I look up to the sky on this mid-August day watching clouds skimming across the blue in the sun. I believe this immensity has been brought to a point, microcosm containing macrocosm in the Virgin’s womb. In return Mary is assumed, a human being reigns above,  the divine One she bore makes her Queen of Heaven. A ‘three-decker’ universe  has gone but not left us. The sky invites aspiration to  grandeur beyond put within reach. John Twisleton 15 August 2023

  Brompton Oratory On Sunday afternoon I stroll Across the field of Hyde Park  And past the Museum queues To be put in my place. Climbing from Brompton Road I enter the Temple of God And kneel in the crowd To be put in my place. The organ bursts out And the Oratory Brothers enter To lead Solemn Vespers And put me in my place Timeless plainchant flows Carrying me along with Prayer seasoned by the ages  Putting me in my place. After Vespers the altar lights As Christ in form of Bread Is lifted to his grand throne And all kneel in their place. With family and friends and The world’s anguish on my heart I welcome Love’s Benediction  putting all in the best place. John Twisleton   23 July 2023

Speakers’ Corner I had an argument on Hyde Park as I often do on sunny Sunday afternoons Joining hundreds engaging in dialogue on Speakers’ Corner. Getting on a soap box Gains you a hearing though shouting  At one another is a vexing feature  Of Speaker’s Corner. Truth telling can be soft or loud  But percolates our being Through the ears of the heart Down through our lives. My Muslim friend admitted his prophet lies dead in Medina Whilst ‘prophet’ Jesus lives with God And we both await his return. Speakers’ Corner is a refreshing place Helping make sense of difference Schooling amicable disagreement  On a Sunday afternoon. John Twisleton  23 July 2023

Coventry We were ‘sent to Coventry’ in 1990 a good term, at first, and nothing alien  spending six years in a vibrant city out in the suburb of Holbrooks as a family just made five by the birth of Anthony James. Our sending we thought came from God through the invitation of Bishop Simon to further grow Saint Luke’s Church in faith, love and numbers following 39 years of Father Henry a legend in the land! Fr John set to work visiting,  James often in his backpack. Anne made the Vicarage home studying, drawing and painting. David to Bluecoat and University, John to Cardinal Newman. What a privilege to live in a city after years in the forest of Guyana! A city like Christ, dying then rising, with bombed ruins beside a new Cathedral, image of forgiveness extended to all through the Coventry cross of nails. At St Luke’s the Anglocatholic vision became a Cross through being set apart  from mainstream Church of England  by the ordination of women priests,    the need to rejoice with the rejoi

  Chichester Cathedral Prayer and praise for half the Christian age contained within your ample walls, so many joys and sorrows enfolded here by almighty Love reaching from above! Chichester Cathedral seat of Bishop’s chairs from Wilfrid and Richard to Bell and Kemp handing down the faith of the Church for centuries with courage and prudence. Privileged to join Eucharist and Divine Office enriched by choristers young and old we joined your congregation for a time lifted into God’s praise and service. One day your walls will crumble to dust as the praise here melts into heaven at the return of One who stays the same yesterday, today and forever. John Twisleton 23 May 2023

  Cleopatra’s Needle It stands on the Embankment above the flowing waters of the Thames, a reminder of time’s ever flowing stream.   Three thousand five hundred years ago it’s granite was quarried from Aswan by the waters of the Nile. Erected by Pharoah at Heliopolis,  moved to homage Caesar at Alexandria Cleopatra’s Needle then bit the dust! Preserved by sand it rose again through British enterprise and carried by sea  came to preside over the Thames. Cleopatra’s Needle points heavenwards  lifting the soul as it has for millennia  inviting an eternal perspective. John Twisleton  9 May 2033

  Undercliff Walk Caught between sea and cliffs on a wide smooth path I make my way to Ovingdean. Behind me Brighton’s i360 carries to the sky. Before me I see Newhaven’s ferry  heading across the sea to Dieppe. The Undercliff Walk lends a perspective  on my life journey as I press forward inspecting the turning of the tide. The sea washes away sand to leave rock as I hope my final ‘washing’  will reveal the solid fruit of Love John Twisleton 25 April 2023

  Oxford Gaudy Chemistry brought me to Oxford and a scholarship at St John’s College. Seven years of study bore fruit in a thesis  on polythene and Teflon and an open door  to research and teach as Fellow of St John’s. Fifty years back I pondered that door. One Sunday sitting in the College Garden I saw another door beside it  and a voice of invitation as if from God which I answered by opening that door. Pursuing and uncovering truth took another turn with Truth pursuing me! I handed back my Junior Fellowship once selected to train as a priest heading back to Yorkshire. Mirfield, Bentley, Moorends, Guyana, Coventry, London and Haywards Heath trace my itinerary over fifty years,  instrument of Christ’s priesthood bringing God to man and man to God. ‘Gaudeamus omnes’ acclaimed the narrator at yesterday’s Gaudy Dinner shared with my peers. I rejoice with them at being used over fifty years, some in business, some in education, some in science. All part of a rich tapestry woven from our l