Love and the Island of Caves
Love and masks in an urban area
in the time of covid-19 lockdown
We have come to this place
where we are real to each other only
Facing each other in Plato’s cave
Everyone else a masked shadow
passing. In the lilies above our bed
the flowers fade and there are only the spaces,
macabre faces in a slow dance of fear.
Most real to us are the shafts
of sunlight in the bougainvillea
mixing crimson with potato-bush blue
the chirruping choir of sparrows
and the chew-chit of the collared sunbird,
as lost as we in their new freedom.
Voices of neighbours unrhythm our morning
Laughter across the yards invade us
dislocated nouns and verbs fall about us,
diffusing. Memory and pain pour from us
as we eucharist at home.
Strangely we discover a life we once knew
The machine hums and fabric and cottons colour a table
Pens and pastels wash through paper
Meals are conjured and senses savoured
And we play.
In the streets we haste past strangers
in the dawn glow
Momentary recognitions
At dusk images of our children and theirs
arise and fade into untouching loneliness
Another day
Our friends die and eddy into the silent clouds
Touching and tasting puts the world under siege
Now it is only you my love
For this we had chosen each other
In that distant time of freshness and promise
For only our love serves and saves
In this island of caves.
Bob Commin 2020
Soul Food
Cheryl Gammon, a mathematics teacher, wife and mother reading the poem See his blood upon the Rose by Joseph Mary Plunket (1916)
Dorian Haarhoff poet and storyteller shares a story during these covid-19 days.
Pentecost Prayer
Come O Fire and Flame Of divine Love And burn away the chaff of our lives Speak to us that we may speak to others Enlighten us that we may enlighten others And set us on fire with love for one another through Jesus the Christ Amen
The Inner Voice of Sound – Opera Singer, Sarita Stern
PART ONE A few weeks ago I was part of a team of two who interviewed Sarita Stern, the well-known South African opera singer and teacher of opera singers at her book launch, in Cape Town. I was there to help bring out for the audience the significant part that Christian faith had played and …
A Day of Remembrance for a young man – on Kloof Corner – Table Mountain
Christian Rohrer was a young student at Diocesan College School, Rondebosch, Cape Town, also known as Bishops, who suffered an aggressive cancer in his final years at the College. In his matric year he was elected and chosen as Headboy of the school. He was academically astute and an all-round sportsman, who was very much …
The Story of Old Ben, the Bear
There is a story in the Gospel according to St Luke 2: 41f of the boy Jesus in the temple. He is 12 years old and had journeyed with his parents for the Passover festival in Jerusalem. When they return after the festival the parents realise that the boy Jesus was not in the company …
- The Inner Voice of Sound – Opera Singer, Sarita Stern
- A Day of Remembrance for a young man – on Kloof Corner – Table Mountain
- The Story of Old Ben, the Bear
- St Francis and Ubuntu – A person is a person through other people
- The story of the fox and the stork
- Taize Service: The Narrow Door
- Conversations with Ian: 4 Stories
bobcommin.com 
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