 |
| Photo by CrizzlDizzl |
Today I join my Spiritual Journey family of bloggers as we celebrate National Poetry Month and look at the ways we incorporate poetry as a part of that spiritual practice of the heart.
One of my favorite writers, Leanne Payne, once said that images are the language of the heart. If that's the case, then poetry with its vocabulary of images, speaks directly to the deepest places within us.
I have often used poems as a starting place for communion and meditation. There is a kind of wooing in a poem that draws me deeply into stillness and prayer.
Here is one that has spoken to me recently.
Vespers
by Derrick Austin
Lord in the pigment, the crushed, colored stones.
Lord in the carved marble chest. I turn away
from art. You are between my eye and what I see.
Forgive my errant gaze. Tonight, I can't sleep
and won't frighten the deer in my peonies.
Like children who rub their grimy hands over everything,
they only want to touch and be touched by grass.
They've never known violence, cars howling out of darkness.
Lord in the camellia, drifting in and out of sight,
like those blushing, perfumed heads will you welcome me?
I, too, am little more than a stranger in your garden.
Stroke my velvety antlers. Open your palms.
from Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide, compiled by Sarah Arthur.
See what other bloggers have to say about this idea at Beyond LiteraacyLink. Thanks to Carol Varsalona for hosting today.
Posts
"Lord in the camellia, drifting in and out of sight,
ReplyDeletelike those blushing, perfumed heads will you welcome me?"
My camellia is blooming and these lines speak to me, as does the beautiful photo of the deer that you included. I'm thinking that I may have to collect all the shared poems from today's post in one place. Love your mention of the "wooing in a poem that draws me deeply into stillness and prayer." It's a blessed place to be.
Doraine, this is beautiful. I especially love these lines in your post: "There is a kind of wooing in a poem that draws me deeply into stillness and prayer." Yes - and your "Vespers" poem is just such a piece with its honesty and lovely details.
ReplyDeleteI am especially pondering "You are between my eye and what I see." Putting Him in that position certainly changes my lens. And I agree, Doriane, poetry is a starting place with "a kind of wooing."
ReplyDeleteDerrick Austin's poem is striking - I feel I am right there seeing the garden with him in his night quandary.
ReplyDeleteAnd love your:
"...a kind of wooing in a poem that draws me deeply into stillness and prayer."
More Poetry Month Wonder to you.
Doraine, tonight your words are the last to read before I go to sleep. I believe that this statement of yours is one that is happening to me now. "There is a kind of wooing in a poem that draws me deeply into stillness and prayer." being still in the late evening and trying to utter words to express the inexpressible in solemenity is what I am experiencing now. Thank you for drawing me deeply into prayer.
ReplyDeleteYou are between my eyes and what I see. LOVE. So beautiful Doraine. And that last line! Thank you for sharing. xo
ReplyDeleteThat phrase "you are between my eye and what I see" captured my attention too. Beautiful poem - thank you!
ReplyDeleteLoved the thought that "There is a kind of wooing in a poem that draws me deeply into stillness and prayer." I've not thought of it that way before, but it does.
ReplyDelete