{"id":1329,"date":"2015-04-20T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T04:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1329"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:29","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:29","slug":"april-20-i-lost-the-freeing-of-the-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/04\/20\/april-20-i-lost-the-freeing-of-the-dust\/","title":{"rendered":"April 20 – I lost “The Freeing of the Dust”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, April 20, \u201cPrayer for Revolutionary Love\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

A couple weeks back a close friend came for some prayer time in our house . . . stillness and presence. \u00a0On the second day we were talking and I had the intuition to loan her one of Denise Levertov\u2019s great books of poetry, The Freeing of the Dust<\/span>. \u00a0I looked all over my room\u2019s book shelves and couldn\u2019t find it. Must have forgotten to whom I\u2019d loaned it. \u00a0 Grrrr. \u00a0You can print a poem up off the web but somehow it\u2019s not the same as loaning the book; which has carried grace for a good while in a sensual form of paper and print and alphabet.<\/p>\n

So what does my friend do but venture out onto the web and find me a signed copy. \u00a0If the sensuality of print on paper matters, so does the ink from a pen held by the poet herself. \u00a0Today\u2019s poem is one of my all-time favorites. \u00a0It has appeared on this list before. \u00a0Does today\u2019s post celebrate the intimate power of \u201cPrayer for Revolutionary Love\u201d as enduring beauty, \u00a0or the web-care my friend took to bring the poet right here where I live and work and sleep? \u00a0Yes.<\/p>\n

Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n

Have a blest day, maybe tasting last night’s spring rain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post <\/strong>\u00a0– \u00a0The Freeing of the Dust<\/span>\u00a0 (1972)<\/p>\n

Prayer for Revolutionary Love<\/strong><\/p>\n

That a woman not ask a man to leave meaningful work to follow her
\nThat a man not ask a woman to leave meaningful work to follow him.<\/p>\n

That no one try to put Eros in bondage
\nBut that no one put a cudgel in the hands of Eros.<\/p>\n

That our loyalty to one another and our loyalty to our work
\nnot be set in false conflict.<\/p>\n

That our love for each other give us love for each other’s work
\nThat our love for each other’s work give us love for one another.<\/p>\n

That our love for each other’s work give us love for one another.
\nThat our love for each other give us love for each other’s work.<\/p>\n

That our love for each other, if need be,
\ngive way to absence.\u00a0 And the unknown.<\/p>\n

That we endure absence, if need be,
\nwithout losing our love for each other.
\nWithout closing our doors to the unknown.<\/p>\n

Denise Levertov<\/p>\n

\"Denise
\n<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 1923 – 1997<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, April 20, \u201cPrayer for Revolutionary Love\u201d A couple weeks back a close friend came for some prayer time in our house . . . stillness and presence. \u00a0On the second day we were talking and I had the intuition … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1329"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1331,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1329\/revisions\/1331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}