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Poetry of Thomas Merton: In Silence

Island visulogik 450x337 Poetry of Thomas Merton: In Silence

Some Rights Reserved by visulogik at Flickr

In Silence

Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
To speak your

Name.
Listen
To the living walls.
Who are you?
Who
Are you? Whose
Silence are you?

Who (be quiet)
Are you (as these stones
Are quiet). Do not
Think of what you are
Still less of
What you may one day be.
Rather
Be what you are (but who?) be
The unthinkable one
You do not know.

O be still, while
You are still alive,
And all things live around you
Speaking (I do not hear)
To your own being,
Speaking by the Unknown
That is in you and in themselves.

“I will try, like them
To be my own silence:
And this is difficult. The whole
World is secretly on fire. The stones
Burn, even the stones
They burn me. How can a man be still or
Listen to all things burning? How can he dare
To sit with them
When all their silence
Is on fire?”

~ Thomas Merton ~

(The Strange Islands: Poems by Thomas Merton Poetry of Thomas Merton: In Silence)

Thanks to Panhala for highlighting this poem.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Recovery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Comments to “Poetry of Thomas Merton: In Silence”

1. Posted by sbwrites, July 1st, 2009 at 11:27 pm

Very nice poem and graphic. Feels like a visual and written vacation. Thanks for sharing!

Susan

2. Posted by john, July 2nd, 2009 at 8:09 am

Susan -

The poem certainly helped me break away from everyday stress and took me to altogether different place.

Good to see you here. Thanks for your comment.

John

3. Posted by Tomas Karkalas, July 7th, 2009 at 8:28 am

Thank you for the wonderful riddle.
I am guessing whose silence I am, and the silence sits me back in awe. Am I to applaud or to fear?
I like the poem
Thank you

4. Posted by john, July 7th, 2009 at 8:30 am

Thank you for the comment. Merton is one of the great thinkers about the human meaning of spirituality.

My best — John

5. Posted by askcherlock, July 10th, 2009 at 1:08 pm

A beautiful poem with strong imagery. The power of good poetry is mighty and withstands the ages, doesn’t it?

6. Posted by john, July 10th, 2009 at 2:04 pm

Hi, Askcherlock -

There is indeed a power in this poem, and I find that also in Merton’s many books and journals. He was a great example of the power of spiritual life in the world of action.

Thanks for coming by.

John

7. Posted by Lydia, July 15th, 2009 at 1:42 am

Your blog is looking outstanding these days!

So glad I came by and read this Merton poem. (Love the photo, too.) His anthology was given to me by a love in the 1980s. I learned recently (post) that he died in 2002 and it sent me into a tailspin. Much better now, and open to those unique messages that can come when we are … still.

8. Posted by john, July 15th, 2009 at 10:46 pm

Thank you, Lydia!

Merton has become one of the most important writers for me in the past year or so. His books have incredible insight into the spiritual life.

Thanks too for mentioning you post – it is so beautiful and moving! You’ve really touched a lot of people, as all those comments make clear.

The way you met Michael matches exactly the first time my wife and I met. Instant connection, and 2 weeks later she packed up her things in NC, quit her job and came back to live with me in NYC. We were so fortunate that it really worked.

All my best to you –

John

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