I will open with a poem from poet-theologian George Hobson, Regent scholar-in-residence back in 2003. He and his wife Victoria live in Provence, France. The poem is taken from George’s new collection,  May Day Morning in Yerevan. You can check more from this author here.

Beyond the Stars

 I reside between the rough bark
And the burning stars.
I embrace trees and say, “I love you.”
The remote stars I consider with awe,
But it’s hard to say to them, “I love you.”
Yet they’re lodged in me,
Their light fills my eyes.
I can’t touch them like the rough bark,
Yet they burn in my belly.
What they are in themselves,
Materially,
I consider thoughtfully and marvel,
Because I come from there;
But it’s their beauty burns inside me,
Not just their atoms:
It radiates glory,
It’s the invisible made visible,
Like the waving trees that make visible the wind.
That beauty is Home,
I belong there;
With my heart I know it,
As I know the rough bark with my hand.
To this that is beyond the stars,
To that of which this beauty is a sign,
A Word,
I can say—and I want to say—
“I love you.”