I’ve been for a few days on retreat at Hacienda los Olivos, being led by Bishop Stephen Cottrell in reflections on Stanley Spencer’s paintings of Christ in the Wilderness.
Great place, great time. A couple of haiku (ish) reflections on the place:
The hills stand round about
This corner of Jerusalem.
Peace anoints this place.
This one refers to the fact that olive trees are beaten with sticks to harvest their fruit. And it’s been a breezy week!
Wind and stick beaten
Olives are patient trees.
Suffering, they bear fruit.
And one on the paintings:
Spencer’s wilderness
And Christ’s is now ours too – full
Of grace and truth.
Thank you for sharing your haikus. I have just returned from Lindisfarne with a set of haikus. They seem curiously suited to expressing spiritual experiences. Also, it’s good to see people writing poems! The haiku about the olive trees particularly speaks to me.