Making Eye Statements: Wonder Watching

In Between the Sun and the Moon

(excerpt)

In between the sun and the moon

I sit and watch

And make some room

For letting light and twilight mingle

Shaping hope

And making simple glances last eternity…

- Pádraig Ó Tuama, Book of Exile

(Canterbury Press, Norwich, 2013)

Pádraig Ó Tuama (web link) is an Irish/Catholic/gay theologian and poet. He was interviewed recently on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation program The Spirit of Things by the wondrous Rachel Kohn. This is not the first time that the Toronto-born Dr. Kohn has appeared in this blog. Her weekly radio show/podcast about things spiritual is appointment listening in my world. Her interview (here) with Ó Tuama is an absolute delight. In it, Ó Tuama talks about his lilting passion for justice, poetry, and the Irish language. He lives in Belfast, where he is the leader of the Corrymeela Community (web link), Northern Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organization.

Among the many things that I learned from the interview is that the Irish language has no word for curiosity. Instead, it uses the term ‘wonder watch’. What a marvellous concept – to watch the world with a sense of wonder! It resonated with me immediately because it is the way that my camera and I try to navigate the world.

So, with a tip of the lens cap to Rachel Kohn and Pádraig Ó Tuama, here are some photos that exemplify my wonder watching. With one exception, they were recorded in the last seven days. You’ll notice snow in one image that I recorded last March on my trusty little Canon PowerShot camera but didn’t download until this week.

Enjoy! Please follow me on Facebook if you feel so led.