Water Voices - by Sheldon H Clark (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In Water Voices, author Sheldon Clark presents a moving series of spiritual reflections grouped together under three general themes: Calm, Storm, and Peace. Readers will find both insight and reassurance in these meditations and remembrances, spanning the lifespan from birth to final years. Evocative illustrations enhance the meaning of the poems and prayers included in the book.

A word from the author:

In the summer of 1958, my brother and I rode horseback into the hill ring surrounding a cattle ranch near Gunnison, Colorado. We followed a creek to its spring, dismounted, and we and our horses refreshed ourselves with cool clear water. We felt history flowing down our throats. We felt at one with the eternal source sending cleansing blood through our veins. We gave thanks for this natural baptism. I could only wish that people everywhere could give thanks for the unmerited gift of pure water.

Water voices are heard in varieties of music from classical, gospel, country and western, folk, easy listening, and rock. Water voices are seen in drawings, paintings, and photography, as representative, abstract, and mood inspiring. Water voices in literature appeal to the five senses and express inner thoughts. Words are the instruments used to articulate passionate love, reflect on grief, loss, danger, and death, and are intentionally chosen to provoke a response.

Water voices are as constant as sunrise and sunset. They possess character. They are as soothing as divine mercy. They are as gentle as the lion that lies down with the lamb, as violent as unbridled war and storms at sea, as miraculous as spiritual conversion, as nourishing as Mother Earth, and as mysterious as love. In listening to water voices, we hear the divine replenishing Creation, itself.

The narrative poems in Water Voices were inspired to acknowledge each person's experience as they bring their welcoming capabilities to our essential source of existence.

In these uncertain times of climate change, it is incumbent upon humanity to listen to water voices as friendly sounds ever so subtly appealing for human help to achieve the goals of balance, conservation, restorative justice, and mutually assured survival.

Review Quotes

I thoroughly enjoyed reading each poem in Water Voices, and found them, overall, to be a beautiful, thoughtful exploration of spirituality as it is reflected and reaffirmed by our experiences with nature. I particularly enjoyed how this collection was structured as a journey---from Calm to Storm to Peace, but also from the innocent, carelessness of childhood to acceptance of the harsher realities of adulthood, the so-called 'real' world. What a unique and personal take on a bildungsroman and the journey of transition throughout our ages. I am sure that many will see themselves in Sheldon Clark's work, which might provoke them to think more deeply. ---Cinde Lock, Ph. D., Queen's University, 2002; Head of School, Pickering College, Newmarket, Ontario

I read Water Voices in one sitting. I delighted in the joys, dreams, and innocent experiences of childhood. I ventured into the second section of the challenges presented in "Storm." The moving current of the narratives carried me with their undertow into dark depths. Some "cumulous heights" of positive change and gratitude are illuminated in the third section. Sheldon grounds his experience clearly motivated by scripture. My favorite poem is "Unspoken Depths" because it so beautifully captures the excitement and movement of the Divine Spirit at work in a Quaker Meeting. Sheldon's reflective descriptions continue to speak to me. They are refreshing and encouraging. I am challenged to listen more attentively to the "water voices" that speak in subtle and stirring ways. ---Virginia Walsh, M.A. (English), York University, Toronto, Ontario, 1979

I do appreciate Sheldon Clark's reflections on the spiritual inspiration of his early life. I identify with the deepening significance of those early and growing influences that impacted his spiritual development and his ability to bring them more clearly and poignantly into his present experience. From our common Quaker connection, Clark articulates the flowing and ripening awareness of personal and social understanding, enabling us to grow as brethren in the spirit. We share a Quaker understanding of connection, of overcoming the flux of time and the blocks thrown in our way by a world of intolerance and conflict. Water Voices reminds us of our unity as human beings in the flow of time, resisting the undercurrents that too often make us forget our common origin and our search for Truth. We live in a world of confusing diversions that draw us further and further apart. Clark's water imagery reminds me to be more attentive to the water voices that continually inspire us to share developments in our spiritual journeys. ---Keith R. Maddock, M. Th. Toronto School of Theology, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, 1994