Your Arms With Christ Beneath These Rooted Trees

Malcolm Guite walking his dog near his home in Cambridge, England. He's the former chaplain at Girton College, part of the University of Cambridge. (Submitted by Malcolm Guite)

Malcolm Guite is a British Anglican priest, poet, and musician who looks as though he may be related to Hagrid from the Harry Potter films. Last year he wrote about the liberating pleasure of exercise during the pandemic by way of riverside and woods walks. He also reflected on another exercise, the recitation of psalms as he rambled. Here is his interpretation of Psalm 1, the beginning of the Psalter. It seems fitting for the beginning of Creation Time or the Season of Creation. Surely these could be lyrics for a hymn? 

Beatus vir

Come to the place, where every breath is praise,
And God is breathing through each passing breeze.
Be planted by the waterside and raise

Your arms with Christ beneath these rooted trees,
Who lift their breathing leaves up to the skies.
Be rooted too, as still and strong as these,

Open alike to sun and rain. Arise
From meditation by these waters. Bear
The fruits of that deep rootedness. Be wise

In the trees’ long wisdom. Learn to share
The secret of their patience. Pass the day
In their green fastness and their quiet air.

Slowly discern a life, a truth, a way,
Where simple being flowers in delight.
Then let the chaff of life just blow away.