It is Trinity Sunday tomorrow, and musing on John V Taylor's inspiring book "The Go-Between God", and listening to Rowan Williams and Simon Armitage talking about landscape and the tactile relationship we have with the natural world and how that has echos of that beyond, prompted the ideas behind this poem. Here I look at how the five senses - sound, smell, sight, touch and taste, both connecting us to the world and each other and beyond have this threefold nature.
Tertullian famously likened the Trinity to root, branch and fragrance, and I wanted to capture, not an abstract doctrine, but something of that sensuality that our Western Tradition has rather turned its back on, with some notable exceptions like C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams.
Trinitarian
The whisper of the wind, just heard
And the dawn chorus of each bird
Between the object and the ear
The wild goose is flying here
Fragrance coming from a flower
Arising after morning shower
From branch and through root
Blessings in the lovely fruit
A beam of sunlight catches dust
Golden blaze that does not rust
Inscribed in book of nature’s Tao
Vision connecting I and Thou
Hands hold, and senses touch
Healing throws away a crutch
Reaching between, together now
And herein lies a holy vow
We kiss and taste the otherness
Connect, and hold, therein bless
In threefold, Spirit sets us free
Passion of the Godhead Three
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