"Song for Nobody" by Thomas Merton

Song for Nobody

By Thomas Merton
(1915 - 1968)

A yellow flower
(Light and spirit)
Sings by itself
For nobody.

A golden spirit
(Light and emptiness)
Sings without a word
By itself.

Let no one touch this gentle sun
In whose dark eye
Someone is awake.

(No light, no gold, no name, no color
And no thought:
O, wide awake!)

A golden heaven
Sings by itself
A song to nobody.
~Thomas Merton, The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton (New Directions Paperbook)

That you may have pleasure in everything,
Seek pleasure in nothing.
That you may possess all things,
Possess nothing.
That you may be everything,
Seek to be nothing.

~Saint John of the Cross

Buy this book: The Collected Works of Saint John of the Cross

09.10.08 only God I saw

In the market, in the cloister--only God I saw. By Baba Kuhi of Shiraz (980? - 1050) English version by Reynold A. Nicholson In the market, in the cloister--only God I saw. In the valley and on the mountain--only God I saw. Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation; In favour and in fortune--only God I saw. In prayer and fasting, in praise and contemplation, In the religion of the Prophet--only God I saw. Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance, Qualities nor causes--only God I saw. I oped mine eyes and by the light of His face around me In all the eye discovered--only God I saw. Like a candle I was melting in His fire: Amidst the flames outflashing--only God I saw. Myself with mine own eyes I saw most clearly, But when I looked with God's eyes--only God I saw. I passed away into nothingness, I vanished, And lo, I was the All-living--only God I saw.