At a School Service

Somewhere outside the situation of a room
of chairs in rows and the figures of people elaborating a rite
is somewhere where it all makes sense: the halting formulas,
the rigid wooden lectern, the exact procession of steps and clothes,

all that makes a school service – somewhere away from the hall
is the other side of ourselves. Ourself, the one person
who always is found.

So this is why we undertake the way of Jesus Christ
and why I saw God
when Julie poured the water over the vicar’s fingers
before he broke the bread.