{"id":3492,"date":"2020-05-20T09:58:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T13:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3492"},"modified":"2020-05-20T10:01:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T14:01:58","slug":"may-20-thomas-merton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/05\/20\/may-20-thomas-merton\/","title":{"rendered":"May 20 – Thomas Merton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday May 18 \u2013 \u201cLet no one touch this gentle sun \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0\u00a0In whose dark eye \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0Someone is awake.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Five years ago, a weekly selection of 7 poems, from \u201cA Year of Being Here,\u201d confronted me with a short demanding poem written by Thomas Merton. \u00a0More than many sacred writers, Merton dove deep into the secular west (Paris, London, New York) into Trappist monastic living (Gethsemani Abby from entrance on Dec 10, 1941 until his accidental death Dec 10, 1968) into Eastern Mysticism in creative tension with Western mysticism.<\/p>\n

Mystics respect the poverty of human language. Words are not the author\u2019s property, contained and owned. \u00a0Words are not the reader\u2019s property either. \u00a0The poet\u2019s words invite you to find yourself somewhere \u2014 mysterious and alive with awe. \u00a0During these spare covid times, the days sometimes feel impoverished. \u00a0 So do our words. \u00a0Mystic poets, such as Merton remind me that finding language calls out our courage.<\/p>\n

Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses. \u00a0 \u00a0Have a blest day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u2013 A Song to Nobody<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A yellow flower
\n(Light and spirit)
\nSings by itself
\nFor nobody.<\/p>\n

A golden spirit
\n(Light and emptiness)
\nSings without a word
\nBy itself.<\/p>\n

Let no one touch this gentle sun
\nIn whose dark eye
\nSomeone is awake.<\/p>\n

(No light, no gold, no name, no color
\nAnd no thought:
\nO, wide awake!)
\nA golden heaven
\nSings by itself
\nA song to nobody.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no way of telling strangers they are all walking around shining like the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas Merton
\n<\/strong>January 31, 1915 \u00a0– December 10, 1968\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Merton<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday May 18 \u2013 \u201cLet no one touch this gentle sun \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0\u00a0In whose dark eye \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0Someone is awake.\u201d Five years ago, a weekly selection of 7 poems, from \u201cA Year of Being Here,\u201d confronted me with a short … 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\/3492"}],"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=3492"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3496,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions\/3496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}