As a spiritual director, theologian, teacher and chaplain, Christopher Southgate's poetry resonates deeply with human experience and has received wide recognition. Here he collects together both his new and his most popular poems on spiritual themes.

Christopher Southgate

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Epigraph

Introduction

Part One: Points of Departure

Rendering Voices 

River

Compline

What if

Grey Epiphany, Hungerford Bridge

Arvo Pärt’s ‘Psalom’ by Last Firelight

Impressions of Faith

Chaplain’s Sonnet

This also is not Thou

Riddle

In Memoriam R. S. Thomas

Palimpsest – a prayer

Part Two: From the Bible

The Fall

Exile

David, Bathsheba and Jonathan

David and Abishag the Shunammite

The Statement of Job’s Comforters

Madonna and Child

Three Deserted Wives

Self-appraisal of a Mage

Interview with Nicodemus

The Upper Room

Pentimento

Dark Relief

The Cup

Gifts

Magdalene in the Garden

Saul at the Stoning of Stephen

The lot fell on Matthias

The Unit

Part Three: Explorations of Place

Patmos

Iona

Lindisfarne

Manhattan: Return to Ground Zero, 2012

Amsterdam: The Beguinehof

Rhodes: Houses of Bread

Montpellier: Cathédrale St Pierre

St Guilhem-le-Désert: Cloister

Torcello: Looking East

Mozambique: Rosetta

Mission Santa Clara, California

Yosemite Valley

Part Four: Songs of Suffering

Funeral Films

Coming to Terms

Crows at a Funeral

Cobalt Therapy Again Today

Slipcatchers

Very tender, with great stillness and serenity

Crying Freedom

Sestina for Karen and Ros and Sue, Richard and Peter and Simon, and many others

Carols at the Mental Hospital

He went out to a deserted place

For C. N.

Funeral Wind

Bearing Reality – for Silke Bischof

Part Five: Longings and Destinations

The Mosaicist

Holly Leaf

Kinds of Faith

My soul like a weaned child

Destination

Leaning on the Spring – a prayer

Eight Steps and an Arch

Masaccio’s Eve

From Annigoni’s ‘Joseph’ in San Lorenzo, Florence

Two Maquettes

Preaching Easter

Doing Church

Sunset over Exmoor

The Reunion 

The Fourth Plinth

Mozart’s Requiem in a Village Church

Village Funerals

The Woodworker and the Poet

Beethoven Quartet Op. 132; T. S. Eliot, ‘East Coker’

Prayer

Acknowledgements

As a spiritual director, theologian, teacher and chaplain, Christopher Southgate''s poetry resonates deeply with human experience and has received wide recognition. Here he collects together both his new and his most popular poems on spiritual themes.

As a spiritual director, theologian, teacher and chaplain, Christopher Southgate's poetry resonates deeply with human experience and has received wide recognition. Here he collects together new and some of his most popular poems that touch on spiritual themes.

As a spiritual director, theologian, teacher and chaplain, Christopher Southgate's poetry resonates deeply with human experience and has received wide recognition. Here he collects together new and some of his most popular poems that touch on spiritual themes. A number of commissioned poems feature in this collection, including one on the King James Bible, quoted by Rowan Williams at the 400th anniversary service in Westminster Abbey. Other poems are drawn directly from biblical narratives, or reflect on the person of Jesus. Also included are poems focusing on places of spiritual significance: Iona, Lindisfarne, Patmos, and the site of 9/11 in Manhattan, as well as poems about suffering and grief including the popular work 'Coming to Terms', featured on BBC Radio 4.

Resonant as lark song beside a still pool, these poems reveal the truth of being that is porous to the Holy. People, places and situations come alive through Southgate's masterful, sometimes playful and always reverent evocations. -- Carla A. Grosch-Miller, author of Psalms Redux

Christopher Southgate is principal of the South West Ministry Training Course and Associate Professor of Theology at Exeter University. The author seven published poetry collections, his poetry has been broadcast on Radio 3 and 4.

\* A collection from a widely published poet, full of poems that can be used in worship and pastoral ministry. \* Christopher Southgate regularly appears at literary festivals and is in demand as a conference speaker, lecturer, retreat leader and spiritual director. \* Readings of his work on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 prompted a stream of requests for copies from listeners.

"Resonant as lark song beside a still pool, these poems reveal the truth of being that is porous to the Holy. People, places and situations come alive through Southgate's masterful, sometimes playful and always reverent evocations. Faith and love, fierce and fragile, shimmer and sing."

"From closely observed and sensitive responses to sacred spaces, to informed and imaginative engagement with scripture, from poised meditation on art and music, to poignant reflection on suffering and endurance, Christopher Southgate's poetry takes us deep into our shared experiences of struggle and joy, patience and prayer, and leaves us all the richer for it."

\["For readers seeking spiritual insight through poetry", "Offers comfort and understanding in times of grief", "You will find inspiration in life's spiritual journeys"\]

Experience deep spiritual reflection with "Rain Falling by the River," a collection of poignant poems by Christopher Southgate.

Rain Falling by the River

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Rain Falling by the River

Description

As a spiritual director, theologian, teacher and chaplain, Christopher Southgate''s poetry resonates deeply with human experience and has received wide recognition. Here he collects together both his new and his most popular poems on spiritual themes.

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