Psalm of a Sydney Winter

I give thanks for skies so blue I get lost in their beauty;

For the slantwise sunlight, adorning every leaf;

For the golden blaze of wattle in the nadir of the year;

For brave, bright camellias with polished leaves;

For the cosiness of bed and the astringency of rising;

For the brilliant flash of lorikeets and white clown cockatoos;

For the dew that falls like blessing.

I praise your name for the laughter of kookaburras

Adorning the morning air;

For nights that wrap the house like a blanket,

Like the strong arms of your love;

For buds on bare branches, and the promise of renewal;

For nature’s downtime, the respite,

The pause between the songs;

For clear night skies a-thrum

With the alien melodies of stars,

Sharp as crystal,

Piercing the soul with beauty.

I thank you that, as seasons turn,

We see new aspects of your glory,

New ways to sing your praise.

I thank you that the seasons of austerity

Carry their hidden beauty:

Flowers of another spring

Pressed between the pages of our lives,

Promising the Spring that ends all winters.

I thank you that the sun and moon

Shall not cease in their rising till he comes:

The Son of Righteousness

Who rises

That the whole world may be healed.