When in the soul of the serene disciple
With no more Fathers to imitate
Poverty is a success,
It is a small thing to say the roof is gone:
He has not even a house.
Stars, as well as friends,
Are angry with the noble ruin.
Saints depart in several directions.
Be still:
There is no longer any need of comment.
It was a lucky wind
That blew away his halo with his cares,
A lucky sea that drowned his reputation.
Here you will find
Neither a proverb nor a memorandum.
There are no ways,
No methods to admire
Where poverty is no achievement.
His God lives in his emptiness like an affliction.
What choice remains?
Well, to be ordinary is not a choice:
It is the usual freedom
Of men without visions.
--Thomas Merton
2 comments:
My favorite city :-) I visited for the month of January when I was twelve with my dad's college students while they were on a "mini-mester" at their college. In the cemetery that's up against the mountain, the graves are decorated with tiny Christmas trees with candles on them. Totally beautiful.
I suspect that if Thomas Merton was alive today he would be excommunicated from the Catholic Church - he was too prophetic, too spiritual and too honest for B-16 and his cronies. Perhaps he would return to his Anglican roots.
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