Maidstone Quakers

What do you do in Meeting?

Sunday-Go-To-Meeting -
But can I leave behind
The weekday dress of my distress?
What do I come to find?

Bare walls. And a sunbeam falls
Across my hands and knees.
Around me Friends keep silence.
Nothing more than these.

I can sit quiet, hold my tongue,
But thoughts torment me still;
Familiar, whining beggars
Block my path, turn where I will.

No way out, and no way in.
Not till I forsake
All striving, and I bend my neck
The suppliant’s yoke to take.

Is Peace herself given licence
Her gentle powers to show?
My imps are led off by the collar.
They grumble, but they go.

And now I’ve no more grievances,
No pleas, demands, requests -
Only on the heart of God,
Oh, God, this tired child rests.

Jane Smith, November 2010