August 28, 2011

Like a Metal That Hasn't Been Mined

Mont Sainte-Victoire, by Paul Cézanne

You, mountain, here since mountains began,
slopes where nothing is built,
peaks that no one has named,
eternal snows littered with stars,
valleys in flower
offering fragrances of earth. . . .

Do I move inside you now?
Am I within the rock
like a metal that hasn't been mined?
Your hardness encloses me everywhere. . . .

Or is it fear
I am caught in? The tightening fear
of the swollen cities
in which I suffocate. . . .

The Book of Hours III, 2

1 comment:

  1. Do I move inside you now?
    Am I within the rock
    like a metal that hasn't been mined?
    Your hardness encloses me everywhere. . . .

    This stanza is panentheistic theology at its best. We are all within God, all is within Him. Whatever stirrings we make, we make within this higher force. Ineluctably encompassed from beginning to end, we may want to stir (in)to shining life.

    ReplyDelete

"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night."

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Go ahead, bloom recklessly!