Avalgar (and Other Poems) : Poems of Faith, Doubt and Hope

This poetry collection consists of poems written over a period of more than forty years in response to issues of faith in the author's own life and his meeting with others in key moments of their lives.

Some of the people described in the poems are imaginary, most are not, but all are based on real people.

They include a very approachable school caretaker ("The School Caretaker"), a wife splitting up from her husband ("Free Now"), a homesick lad in a boarding school ("The New Boy"), and a child of the future learning for the first time about pylons which no longer exist ("Power Lines").

Religious poems, which are the mainstay of the book, include poems about Christmas, Lent and the Passion, pieces inspired by Christian poets George Herbert and T.S.

Eliot, and poems about prayer and moral conflict with evil, negative forces.

There are also poems about creativity and the writing of poetry, and there is a section of maxims and words of counsel.

Major themes are faith dealing with doubt and depression, the passage of time and spiritual journeys, and God's grace. Although some poems are sad or dark, light and sunshine recur throughout the volume and the dominant note is one of hope and trust.

The collection begins with "Avalgar", a narrative poem, which tells the story of a journey into outer space and the discovery of another Garden of Eden.