If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent
If the unheard, unspoken
Word is unspoken, unheard;
Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard,
The Word without a word, the Word within
The world and for the world;
And the light shone in darkness and
Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the centre of the silent Word.
O my people, what have I done unto thee.
Where shall the word be found, where will the word
Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence
Not on the sea or on the islands, not
On the mainland, in the desert or the rain land,
For those who walk in darkness
Both in the day time and in the night time
The right time and the right place are not here
No place of grace for those who avoid the face
No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and deny
the voice
Will the veiled sister pray for
Those who walk in darkness, who chose thee and oppose thee,
Those who are torn on the horn between season and season,
time and time, between
Hour and hour, word and word, power and power, those who wait
In darkness? Will the veiled sister pray
For children at the gate
Who will not go away and cannot pray:
Pray for those who chose and oppose
Related:
The Barren Heart; God is in the Desert
Lenten Retreat Day
Random Lenten Thoughts
Oh that’s from Eliot’s “Ash Wednesday.” That’s the perfect poem for Lent. My favorite of its Cantos is the second. For those not familiar, here’s how Canto II starts:
Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper-tree
In the cool of the day, having fed to sateity
On my legs my heart my liver and that which had been contained
In the hollow round of my skull. And God said
Shall these bones live? shall these
Bones live? And that which had been contained
In the bones (which were already dry) said chirping:
Because of the goodness of this Lady
And because of her loveliness, and because
She honours the Virgin in meditation,
We shine with brightness.
For those that wish to read the entire poem, you can find it here.
Hi Anchoress! I haven’t been by for a while. First because of ISP problems (I’m on a borrowed computer). Second, because I have become more deeply involved in my practices. I now spend 4-6 hrs daily in what you would call contemplative prayer. I’m coming up for air today to clean out my e-mail box.
Losar,or Tibetan New Year, was quite close to the Christian Lent this year and I cannot but be struck by the fact that this is the traditional Buddhist Month of Miracles when the karmic effects of religious practice are said to be multiplied 100,000x.
It is a great pleasure for me that we are both so deeply involved in contemplative prayer at the same time. I’m still very grateful that you and many of your readers have prayed for me.
All of them, you, and your personal family, have one spot on my prayer list. Traditionally each name would have it’s own candle. Expense and fire hazard keep me from doing this at home, but I have found about 75 marvellous gold colored pins, each with an Aladdin style lamp on them in low relief, which is a satisfying substitute for a beautiful custom. Next to them are two prayer wheels that, when you spin them clockwise, are a useful technique for concentrating the mind as you pray.
I wish you the best as you share Christ’s sacrifice and offer to you the two mantras on the wheels that I spin (and hold in my mind) 3 times every time I remember to glance at the bulletin board to the left of my “puja table”.
Om Mani Padme Hung.
Om Tare Tutare Sva Ha.
[I am very RELIEVED to hear from you, Joseph. I emailed you and got a return; was worried. Have been praying for you, and several readers emailed me concerned about you. Thank you for the note (and the prayers) -admin]
Well, oops! I left out one syllable on the last mantra. My apologies to Tara the Swift One:
Om Tare Tutare Ture Sva Ha.