A Wayfarer’s Poems: The Invitation

A Wayfarer’s Poems: The Invitation, T. A. Gibson. Resource Publications (ISBN: 9798385225644) 2026.

Summary: Poems celebrating wonder in creation, in one another, and in the Waymaker, inviting attention and belief.

This is the second collection of A Wayfarer’s Poems by T.A. Gibson, the first being A Wayfarer’s Poems: The Mirror published in 2024. I note that because, having delighted in the second, I want to go back to the first.

The poems in this collection are divided into two parts. Those in “To Live” celebrate our life embedded in the beauties of creation, marriage, family, and friends, and ultimately our Creator. Then those in “To Listen” center on attending to “The Waymaker” (part of the title of one poem) to see with wisdom, to trust, and to worship.

In the opening poem, “Aubade (Morning Love Song)” the poet observes the beauties of a woodland morning, conscious that we do not possess these as a crown because the Lord “keeps the good ones for himself.” Another poem, “In Texas,” describes beauties different and unique to that setting. The poet describes a “Love of Life” where the boundaries of self dissolve in sleep and he senses himself “a part of a greater Divinity.”

Other poems are very much grounded in life. “Heritage (To the Helms Family)” considers what we pass from one generation to the next. Several of the poems revel in the wonders of marital love, particularly the paired “Love’s Nature” and “Love’s Vows,” that beautifully and sensually portray the wonder of the “one flesh” relationship. Other poems consider how we live toward God as “Sonnet: Let Us Live” invites us to “live like we had eight hours left. A couple of the poems mark the particular rhythms of rest and reflection on Sundays.

The second section, “To Listen” opens with “A Jewel.” The jewel resides in the heart, an “inner reverence that sets me apart from the world’s decrees.” In the end, it is a hope that abides beyond physical death. The poet reflects upon “Grace,” both its incomprehensibility and our inability to “quantify its perfectness.” Then we are reminded that “we don’t own our souls.” In “Plight” we discover that prior to all our listening, “I am God listening.” The poems throughout this section center on the Waymaker’s invitation to hear and see. Lastly, the poet concludes with a blessing: “I have made you in my image and blessed you like this–do not lose your song”

The poems are indeed invitations to experience and celebrate the goodness of creation and of human bonds. They also point us to the Transcendent, to know ourselves within God’s purposes and abiding love. This is a collection I will savor as a wayfarer.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.