Vicars are meant to be people of prayer. I offer to pray people; it can seem very inadequate but it is often all I can do. The problem is that I am not very good at it. I take some comfort from the poet RS Thomas (who I recently wrote about). Thomas found his prayers were often met by silence but he realised that God was in the silence. His poem "Folk Tale" explores this. I too, just occasionally see the movement of the curtain.Prayers like gravelflung at the sky'swindow, hoping to attractthe loved one'sattention. But withoutvisible plaits to letdown for the believerto climb up, to what purpose openthat far casement? I wouldhave refrained long sincebut that peering oncethrough my locked fingersI thought that I detectedthe movement of a curtain.
