Compassion

Photo: Brian Federle

“What is my new desert? The name of it is compassion. There is no wilderness so terrible, so beautiful, so arid, and so fruitful as the wilderness of compassion.” Thomas Merton

I’ll wander with you
in our pain.

Though dry days
and star-drenchd nights
we’ll search the sharp rocks
for pools of cool tears.

Forty days and
forty nights shall we journey
through the wilderness,

to the green oasis
where we’ll flourish;

audacious 
lilies in hidden springs

and there  
we’ll possess
every good thing.

(13 Oct 2012/revised 7/31/2018)

Fountain of Fire

“Just as it is impossible for a man to see his face in troubled water, so too the soul, unless it be cleansed of alien thoughts.” Thomas Merton

Closing in
the ancient wind sweeps
still waters, turns clarity
to confusion, joy
to primal fear.

I seek my face
but see only a blush
on the river’s edge,
red betrayal seeping
from deep within,
from a wound unseen.

Cleanse me, O Fountain of Fire, 
still my fears
and again I’ll see
my face
washed clean
by grateful tears!

Revelation

Photo: Brian Federle, San Francisco Homeless, 2014.

Inside

my secret door

deep in the dark

I face you.

We are

alone.

I have no place

to hide.

I don’t want

shelter

from your steady

eyes.

You see right through

my petty lies--

into the truth of

my shivering

life.

You know me

and yet

you love me!

On the Razor's Edge

Photo: Brian Federle

“Despair is the absolute extreme of self-love.”

― Thomas Merton

Gazing into bright desert space

we see endless highways, distant

mountains we never reach,

sharp hills, steep cliffs

receding

as we move closer,

closer,

to the pacing sun,

creasing dark canyons,

casting amber light

into the gauzy sky —  

yet our dark dreams trouble

the faint stars; the reeling planets

throw wide nets over

our haunted, lost souls

when, morning at last,

we begin again,

pursuing the tumbling edge

of this turning globe

believing that

it will never end, will never

end,

will never

end.

Intricate Psalms

Photo: Brian Federle, Sun in Clouds, Hawaii 2016

Clearing the tallest

eve of the big house,

the sun overwhelms.

Then the mockingbird chants

intricate psalms —

All praise to the

lord of the sky

and with glory

fill the land!