Poems by Sharon McBride Murfin
Personal, evocative, weaving together spirituality,
women's ways, aging, and death amidst the presence of the natural world.
Poems that sing, comfort, ask questions, and offer
insights and exaltations for the journey.
Books
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These poems by Sharon McBride Murfin spring from a lifetime of writing. The introduction, written by Therese Schroeder-Sheker, harpist and singer, brings extraordinary insight to the work of the poet, and places her squarely in the lineage of poetic consciousness described so well by Owen Barfield.
They are part of a three volume series: The Scroll of Myself - Poems I, Bread of the Presence - Poems II, and Strange Angels - Poems III. Personal and evocative, they weave together spirituality, women's ways, aging, and death amidst the current culture and the presence of the natural world. These poems pose questions and seek answers, they sing and find comfort, as is befitting her life as a musician and clinician serving the dying with music. Rich with imagery, these poems are fresh responses to everyday transformations, insights and exaltations brought forth and laid down as redemptive talismans for the journey.
Sitting Down
What is this I fall into?
My inner self has released into
an open space three inches at least,
aware but blank.
(I’m checking that, and it’s true.)
I’m newly aware of my things –
piano, tablecloth, fallow harps,
candles, figures,
still and radiant.
Radiant? Inanimate, but not
dis-animate. I animate them.
Far from the temple,
far from fellow suppliants,
I would like to arrange a morning tray
of marigolds, gold leafed almonds,
coriander sprigs and blossoms.
What is this I fall into?
I’m like the 50th I Ching yarrow stick,
set aside to “witness” the goings on.
Set aside to observe,
I’m very pleased to fall in with
the oracle at work.
It’s not a big word talk
rather a place, a threshold,
where just arriving is
a big unfolding