Please enjoy this guest post by clay artist and poet Lynne McCarthy.
The Sacred Vessel
Your beautiful
And tender
Hands
Mold me,
As potter’s clay,
I Spin
On Wheel
Till form take shape,
And sacred
Vessel
My God
Create—
Pure and
Gentle,
Your hands
Pinch and pull
Till with clay,
Soft and wet,
Made
Whole,
And through
Heat and fire
I become
One with flame
And pull from
Kiln
Beautiful
Surprise
To have and hold,
Sweet and sacred,
Wine
Divine
And pour from lip
Thy holy word,
Like honey
For all to sip.
Lynne McCarthy has worked in clay for almost 30 years. She sees art as practice, a way to translate and transform life experience. Find more of her clay work, poetry and photography at www.womenonart.com.
Images by Lynne McCarthy and Margot Geist
Beautifully described experience with both pottery and our journey home. It is always a delightful surprise to see what intense heat does to the unique clays and singular placement of various glazes inside and out of the vessel. I am sure when we fully see who we are after bearing the intensity of our own unique experiences, we will be both surprised and thrilled. I love poetry where minimal words give wondrous expression, and this was done masterfully here. Many thanks for sharing this, both Lynne and Lesley.
Rudy, thank you for your beautiful comment. I especially appreciate the way you highlighted the firing process. So often on the journey we feel as though we are being burnt up by the purification, but once one comes out of the Beloved’s kiln, a yet greater work of art has manifested inside. The more we come to trust this process the more we can endure the heat, and thus the more we can transform.