Attention and contemplation

It's nine months since I jotted this down, and left it on my desktop for further consideration. In that time, all I've changed is the verse layout. I think it says what I wanted to admit about the difficulties I have with retaining that 'single eye' that St Ephrem speaks of.

A man of poor attention span

I fix my gaze amazed

a while only

on the latest marvel of glory

to reveal itself

before my wondering eye.

Why I do not long linger

is because there’s so much

on which to ponder

A world made for wonder

Whether one or many things

enchant

is neither here nor there.

To be open to the Infinite Beauty

astonished, grateful

Is all I care.

Perhaps only when my world slows

to a singularity

will I at last remain

undistracted in awe

JKK; 19.08.08

Tribute to a thinker and a poet

The death of the great Russian author and poet yesterday prompts me to post this, dug up from my archive.

SOLZHENIZIN’S QUESTION

Will beauty save the world?
I too ask myself, hearing news
of the latest massacre
despoiling God's own image
in vulnerable frail flesh.

Righting the imbalances of
malice and misfortune.
Remembering that the earth
is the Lord's, loaned for sharing
not a legacy to divide
among the strong and ruthless.

Rests not the world's hope on these?

Without a higher impulse
at work in transformation
of our sorry human state
good intentions turn to dust.
Unless that nobler vision
is lit up by the splendour
of a love uncreated
the shadow of self remains
to mar all our best efforts.

Perhaps love's very beauty
can entice us out of self
into the ground of our being.
Love infusing all just deeds
can overcome every ill
and make real the promise of
salvation for the whole world;
beauty is love's outer garb.

JKK 27.6.92