Month: April 2019
How little the dying seem to need
Bedside Manners – Christopher Wiseman
How little the dying seem to need—
A drink perhaps, a little food,
A smile, a hand to hold, medication,
A change of clothes, an unspoken
Understanding about what’s happening.
You think it would be more, much more,
Something more difficult for us
To help with in this great disruption,
But perhaps it’s because as the huge shape
Rears up higher and darker each hour
They are anxious that we should see it too
And try to show us with a hand-squeeze.
We panic to do more for them,
And especially when it’s your father,
And his eyes are far away, and your tears
Are all down your face and clothes,
And he doesn’t see them now, but smiles
Perhaps, just perhaps because you’re there.
How little he needs. Just love. More Love.
Saturday morning
Death and resurrection; addiction and recovery
Rest in peace, Raphael. You will be missed.
For whom is America a Utopia?
For whom is America a utopia? Perhaps just for that minority of men–the power elite and those who are close to them–who profit from the status quo and resist social and institutional and educational change that might diminish their grip on the levers of power. And they are not in dialogue with the many they control rather than serve.
– Sidney Jourard
A bit of advice
A bit of advice
given to a young Native American
at the time of his initiation:
“As you go the way of life,
you will see a great chasm.
Jump.
It is not as wide as you think.”
– Joseph Campbell
Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com
When the sun has arisen…
When the sun has arisen, where then remains the night? When the army of grace has come, where then remains affliction?
– Rumi
Photo: Falmouth, Maine town landing – January 2017
Prayer of Discernment
(Photo: Crescent Beach, ME. – December 2016)
A Prayer of Discernment
–by Thomas Merton
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I actually am doing so. For I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you, and I hope that I have the desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadows of death. I will not fear, for you will not leave me to face the perils alone. Amen
John 13:30
And it was night.
Edge of Atlantic 