Arriving in the Leaving

Some of you might know that our fabulous congregation member, Deborah, is a talented and thought provoking writer. Se writes under her birth name Deborah Sheppard. 
We are so pleased to share a poem from her, penned on the last day of her first retreat to Iona.

​Arriving in the Leaving
 
You arrived
with an idea of Iona.
You giddied the week into being -
 
the latest release:
 
‘Twelve Women Retreat to an Island’
 
…cinematic outtakes:
women, holding,
sharing - mingling
minds.
 
You left
with a reel
of real.
 
She can have this effect.
… Iona I mean.
 
She leaves you
reeling in
the realing.
 
She knows the script
of your Soul
and is not afraid
to leave you
alone with yourSelf.


She uses true mirrors
to good effect.
 
We arrive wanting;
solitude is part of this
course -
but, This
is ‘The Lone’
in aloneness.
 
You’re playing a part
that maybe
you’d prefer to be scattered
cuttings on the floor
in the final cut;
you discover  
that the riches
are in the subplot.
 
…The woman connection
goes deep…
as always.
 
We find that inner
longing is unanswered
but captured.
 
And, as you write this
solitary piece looking
over the sound to Mull,
 
The Iona Max Screen
is playing
‘A Flock of Geese’
forming the V:
the invisible
Unspoken.
 
Their versus
is held in belonging
and they don’t need
to honk about it​