Then let us leave the bustle of this earth, And find success in spiritual rebirth. With Christianity falling into desuetude among many Western nations, and the strident voices of rival creeds ringing in our ears, it is comforting to hear the explicitly Christian messages contained in Bishop Paul's latest compilation. Here are over ninety sonnets, introduced by a poetic commentary on the Beatitudes based on St Matthew's Gospel. They are gentle, yet timely reminders of such unfashionable concepts as meekness, compassion, contemplation and silence, and the relegation of the self in a world that deifies the ego and offers us transient rewards in the guise of consumerism. Bishop Paul does not set himself above material things; but he is a little apart from them, and it is this that gives his poetry unique vision.
