And when my mind wasn't occupied with memories of a recent phone conversation or visions of boots (I am still trying to replace the pair that wore out this winter), I kept seeing a pond with water lilies.
So I share that vision -- the water lilies, not the boots and the meetings, though each has its own value -- here with you now, in lieu of anything more profound that I might have to say, and offer up an excerpt from one of the poems in Daniel Ladinsky's wonderful book, Love Poems from God. This one was written by St. Teresa of Avila; the poem is called "I Loved What I Could Love," and here are the lines I wanted to share:
Have you ever walked across a stream
stepping on rocks so not to spoil a pair of shoes?
All we can touch, swallow, or say
aids in our crossing to God
and helps unveil the soul.
Life smooths us, rounds, perfects, as does the river the stone,
and there is no place our Beloved is not flowing
though the current's force
you may not always like.
Our passions help to lift us.
I loved what I could love until I held Him,
for then--all things -- every world
disappeared.
3 comments:
I can say that Ladinsky's book is one I truly love. The St. Teresa section even inspired a poem.
I sit here, tired, and a bit outside myself and think of the river that runs through it all, rounding out our edges -- if we let it -- and I weep just a bit at those words: I loved what I could love ... and just for a moment, I get it ... about as deep as I can go.
"Our passions help to lift us."
Your words lift me up. Your images soothe me, inspire me, fill me with joy.
Post a Comment