A collection of Wisdom Poetry for Daily Practice.
A collection of nineteen poems, arranged for daily practice. Morning intentions to open the day. Cycles of consent to hold it. Evening benedictions to release it.
Each poem has an accompanying audio reading. The full collection is available as a free PDF — a portable companion for morning prayer, evening quiet, or wherever practice finds you.
Here are three poems from the collection — one from each movement — to give you a sense of the arc of the day.
Stained Glass Window
a Morning Intention
I take up the shards of this new day.
I accept the constraints that hold me together.
I offer this shape to the Original Light.
I stand ready for the radiance to shine through.
— William Britten
For the Journey
a Cycle of Consent
ORIENTATION
Three companions for the way:
lantern, mantle, staff.
Light enough for the next step.
Warmth kept close.
Ground that can be met.
I do not know the distance.
I carry what is given.
The path continues.
MORNING ALIGNMENT
I take up the lantern.
I draw the mantle close.
I lift the staff.
What I need for the day
is in my hand.
I walk.
EVENING RELEASE
I set the lantern down.
I loose the mantle.
I lean the staff aside.
What carried me today
I release into rest.
I am held now.
— William Britten
The Fullness of Time
Epilogue
It’s a warm night. Walk outside a while.
Eyes will adjust to the dark,
and the dark will be full.
Children never born,
loves you thought were lost,
nothing missing.
The night holds them all.
Would it break you?
All the tenderness, the particularity,
each small thing more than you could bear?
You stand.
The fullness of time, for all its power,
is remarkably gentle.
Love and mercy,
already here.
— William Britten
Download the full collection (PDF)
Listen to all nineteen poems
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