Because We Are Loved
'...we come into being because we are loved and because we are meant to love others.'
Thomas Merton, Honorable Reader: Reflections on My Work
Deep inside
my silent room,
I gaze
at nothing,
as beyond the door
in trees glowing,
green and glistening,
birds sing, spring-
mad, mated,
passion-played!
The sun's rising
and cradling
Your risen
world,
I emerge.
poem by Steven Federle
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City Nocturne
'Where there is no peace, there is no light.' Thomas Merton. Honorable Reader: Reflections on My Work
I dwell in city nights
hear cars cruising
down streets
streaming confusion
whispering,
boulevards of light
stunted lanes,
high-
wire siren, stunned
shot-
finders, tense
dispatchers rolling
black and whites,
ambulance
coroner's wagon
while laughing,
from theatre emerging,
from restaurant and bar
unaware, we swarm
through rivers of blood
to black cars, crush
of silent plush
power windows up
lock the doors
and slowly drive
through those
shimmering
terrible,
beautiful
streets.
poem by Steven Federle
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On this day of Spring Original by Rabindranath Tagore
So many flowers bloom
On this day of Spring
So many flutes are played
So many birds sing
On this day of Spring
On this day of Spring
My friend's heart is as soft
As a little flower
Whose negligence makes it
So terribly suffer
Why do you come to her
And try to make her laugh
The one who used to come
Now doesn't care enough
So many flowers bloom
On this day of Spring
So many flutes are played
So many birds sing
On this day of Spring
On this day of Spring
God please keep the happy
People always happy
And let the Spring season
Of joy pass by smoothly
God don't let the happy
People see her in tears
Since they overlook her
And want to live in cheers
So many flowers bloom
On this day of Spring
So many flutes are played
So many birds sing
On this day of Spring
On this day of Spring
poem by Asif Andalib
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The Sea Of Love
'….it is a sea of Love which flows through the One Body....'
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation.
The sea of Love
fills my lungs
courses through
open fingers
warms glowing
heart, pulses
blood-lines
through diaphanous
skin.
In in the surge
of mother-sea
I wait
and grow
and emerge
into who
will be.
poem by Steven Federle
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I fancy I Can See You Old Duhallow
I fancy I can see you old Duhallow
The swallows o'er your fields wing to and fro
And cows from wintering houses out on pasture
And birds are whistling on the green hedgerow.
I lay upon the bracken slopes of Clara
I see the Kerry hills beyond Rathmore
A skylark sing above the silent mountain
His song bring back to me the joys of yore.
You wear your green cloak of the Spring Duhallow
And your beauty from the mountain side I see
From Millstreet to Kanturk on towards Newmarket
Kiskeam to Cullen and up to Knocknagree.
I often think about you green Duhallow
You were the first great love I ever knew
But many others loved you better than I
And they feel quite content to live with you.
I fancy I can see you old Duhallow
In your green groves the wild birds nest and sing
And swallows fly above your fields and meadows
And cuckoo pipes his fanfare of the Spring.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Summer River
"It might be good to open our eyes and see." Thomas Merton
summer river
ore' shading trees,
hanging leaves casting
green sheen on waters,
on the deep
unbroken mirror
when, rising from night
it breaks lightning
and draws first breath
of thin air.
Discovery made,
it falls back
into the cool
watery shade.
poem by Steven Federle
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We Must Believe
We must all believe in love and in peace.
We must believe in the power of love. Thomas Merton
Peace fills this house
as I alone awake and hear
the sounds of easy breathing,
the morning birds, striving
with rising dawn, singing
in the sun with piercing song,
while in the great distance
beyond the gentle flame of sunrise
anger rages.
The birds of Homs are silent.
Waning day swells
with the wails of
mothers.
They cradle the innocents,
caught in the cross-fire
of a Assad's evil greed.
Thy will be done.
Though I cannot understand
I must believe
in your powerful love,
your infinite
Peace!
poem by Steven Federle
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A World Without Birds
In years from now will the children of the future on warm evenings in the prime of Spring
On trees and bushes in groves, woods and parklands when flowers are blooming hear the wild birds sing
For a World without birds would be sad to live in and sad to learn that they are becoming rare
These are sad times for people who love Nature and who for Nature's creatures genuinely do care,
A World without birds to think of even painful something that one would not rather contemplate
For birds seem an integral part of Nature the poets and painters them do celebrate
They have been in the World for perhaps longer than humans they have evolved from the dinosaur age
Humans even use them for their entertainment they keep them in an aviary or a cage
But birds should never be held in captivity as Nature's creatures meant to live naturally
They are not meant to be captives of humans in Nature's World they should live wild and free
For bird lovers it must be disappointing to know their numbers are on the decline
So nice to hear them singing in the gardens when flowers are blooming in the Spring sunshine
The demise of birds the thought even unpleasant a sadder World without them it would be
They are so much an integral part of Nature at least that is how it does seem to me.
poem by Francis Duggan
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May Song
BIRDS in the green of my garden
Blackbirds and throstle and wren,
Wet your dear wings in the tears that are Spring's
And so to your singing again!
Birds in my blossoming orchard,
Chaffinch and goldfinch and lark,
Preen your bright wings, little happy live things;
The May trees grow white in the park!
Birds in the leafy wet woodlands,
Cuckoo and nightingale brown,
Sing to the sound of the rain on green ground--
The rain on green leaves dripping down!
Fresh with the rain of the May-time,
Rich with the promise of June,
Deep in her heart, where the little leaves part,
Love, like a bird, sings in tune!
poem by Edith Nesbit
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The Window of Being
'Actions are the doors and windows of being. Unless we act we have no way of knowing what we are. ' Thomas Merton
walk
through the door
and do
not stray
in this dark room
silent,
inactive
thin soul of
yesterday's
rain.
no.
break open the window,
and breathe deeply
the light
of being.
poem by Steven Federle
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Mockingbirdsing
Mockingbirds sing
Sing me what the Lord was singing
On the day He made the water
The color of the blues
Sing me that song
Sing me to till the heavens rising
On the day He made the water
The color of my baby's eyes
Love her in the ways you want to be loved
Love her in the ways she wants to be loved
Love her in the ways you want to be loved
But the way I'm loving her
It must not be enough
Cause in the way she cries
It only tears me up
I feel dead inside and dying
And if you give up
Don't give up on love
Don't give up on love
The rivers they run
They run until they get too tired
Until they run behind the houses
And they become a creek
When I was a child
I ran until the creek became a river
When it turned into the ocean
I wondered why He'd made it so deep
Love her in the ways you want to be loved
Love her in the ways you want to be loved
Love her in the ways you want to be loved
But the way I'm loving her
Must not be enough
Cause the way she cries
It only tears me up
I feel dead inside and dying
Don't give up
Cause in a way she's crying
It only tears me up
I feel dead inside and dying
Give up
Don't give up on love
Don't give up on love
Love her in the ways you want to be loved
Love her in the ways you want to be loved
Love her in the ways you want to be loved
Sometimes it ain't enough
Sometimes it ain't enough
But don't give up on love
song performed by by Ryan Adams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Wrote Nothing Today
I WROTE NOTHING TODAY
I wrote nothing today
I did not do my work
I played around
I read what I wanted
I searched the Internet for nonsense
I did not face the work and reality I have
I wrote nothing today
I did nothing today
I am to blame
The world will fall apart
The sky will never be blue again
The night will go on forever
No birds will sing and no rivers will flow
All the trees will lose their green-
I did nothing today
It's all over
I did nothing today and I am nothing and I will forever be nothing
And I am ashamed of being nothing and guilty for being nothing
And still I am nothing
And writing this does not make me something either
Because it is not the work I am supposed to do
Which I am still escaping
What a loser I am
What a failure-
After this tirade
Will I at last have the courage to begin the real work now?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Time Spent In Pursuit Of Love Meant
No season seems more anticipated,
Than Spring.
No other time does life seem more appreciated,
Than Spring.
With flowers blooming, birds singing....And leaves,
Beginning to bud on barren trees...
Turning green.
And in Spring...
Time spent in pursuit of love meant,
By those young...
Reminds those that are not,
How blessed we are...
To witness another Spring to come.
No season seems more anticipated,
Than Spring.
No other time does life seem more appreciated,
Than Spring.
And in Spring...
Time spent in pursuit of love meant,
By those young...
Reminds those that are not,
How blessed we are...
To witness another Spring to come.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The Sun Is Out And Shining
The sun is out and shining and there's warmth in the breeze
And the weather rather pleasant around 21 degrees
And pink blossoms on the fruit trees and the wild birds chirp and sing
on this the first day of September and of the calendar Spring.
The poetess is out walking and a song is in her head
And she will write a poem this evening before she goes to bed
Her dedication to September her favourite month of the year
When Spring spreads her green beauty in the Southern Hemisphere.
The lovely golden whistler his song one can't mistake
In backyard on the mirror bush he whistled at daybreak
I'd like to think he piped for Spring though naturalists tell me
That the only reason birds sing is to defend their territory.
The sun is out and shining and Spring is in the air
And blossoms on the fruit trees and parks and gardens wear
Their green cloaks of September and there's warmth in the breeze
And the weather temperatures quite pleasant around 21 degrees.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Abaude: Night into Morning
We lie under high arched windows
awake in the deep winter night
and gaze on the tallest trees
glazed in silver light.
They reach up to the radiant moon,
their fingers spread bare and plain,
raised in silent prayer
after December's cold, hard rain.
Your face is bathed in these holy rays,
and I fight sleep; I cannot turn away
from truth so deep as the moon beaming
through our wintering trees ardently streaming.
But I close my eyes for a moment, then see
dawn drawing azure from night's darkest seed,
and the trees' golden limbs rising on high
to praise morning's vaulting blue sky.
So I arise and turning to you I see
how night flows to dawn eternally
and to the resurgent world restores
the spring of our never-ending joy.
poem by Steven Federle
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A Simple Question
'While I am asking questions which You do not answer, You ask me a question which is so simple that I cannot answer. I do not even understand the question.' Thomas Merton, A Merton Reader,
'And He continued by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am? '' Mark 8: 29
Clear day
golden sky
gives way to
black clouds
and I ask,
'why? '
It's a child's question.
Within cities
hard edges, pavements
grey receive the red
tide, heads fall
and lives split open,
spill into
gutters fill,
sewers, fill
the sea,
and like a
persistent child
I ask 'why? '
In the morning
through bright
windows I see how
spring leans
to summer, timid
leaves open wide
glow in silver light
and green fire
fills the wood,
and by this beauty
silenced,
I hear
in tones
beyond my hearing
a simple question;
'who? '
but I cannot answer;
I do not
know.
poem by Steven Federle
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I Loved You Once
I loved you once, with all my heart, my spirit, body, soul...
I loved you once, with all not part, with marriage as my goal...
I loved you once, with all my strength, as if I were on fire...
I loved you once, with all at length, as if love meant desire...
I loved you once, with all my dreams, which came by day and night...
I loved you once, with all extremes spent on this one delight...
I loved you once, with all God gave, with passion borne of joy...
I loved you once, with all to save romance and not some ploy...
I loved you once, with love divine, not holding back a thing...
I loved you once, with love benign that caused my heart to sing...
I loved you once, with happiness no other man has known...
I loved you once, with prayers to bless yet now I pray alone...
I loved you once, with each embrace, until the day you died...
I loved you once, with all God's grace yet now what sighs are sighed.
poem by Denis Martindale
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By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet.
quote by Thomas Merton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Midnight Passion
The clock strikes midnight,
And I hear you creep into my room,
For you are here,
To spark a fire in me,
That lights up the stars in the sky,
Into colourful fireworks,
That makes the temperature of the room hot,
So hot with the passion that we share,
For in each other's arms,
We are there,
In a blissful paradise,
That is lovemaking,
For this passion and I,
You are taking,
To boiling point,
Where this love burns deep inside my heart,
For our love is like the greatest art,
That could ever be created,
For I am burning up inside,
Where this raw passion,
Has nothing to hide.
poem by Paula Glynn
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In April
When beeches bud and lilacs blow,
And Earth puts on her magic green;
When dogwoods bear their vernal snow
And skies grow deep the stars between,—
Then, O ye birds! awake and sing
The gladness at the heart of Spring!
When flowers blossom for the poor,
And Nature heals the hurt of years,
When wondering Love resists the cure,
Yet hopes again, and smiles through tears,—
Then, O ye birds! awake and sing
The gladness at the heart of Spring!
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Poems (1898)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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People Who Died
Oak trees are tall and
Reach for the sky,
Blossoming dogwood
Can be pink or white and irises, yellow
Evergreens gently sway in a summer breeze,
As I look towards the sky, cloud covered or
Sometimes a deep shade of blue-
I feel alive and lost inside a world of my imaginings-
I am alone in a world where many loved ones have passed-
My father, warm, and strong and had a zest for life,
My mother sometimes happy, more often sad,
My grandmother, eccentric and funny and my aunt-
In my eyes, special and like a mother to me-
Oak trees are tall and reach for the sky,
Blossoming dogwood and irises, yellow-
It is the springtime of the year and I wonder
Where to have my loved ones departed?
Beneath the ground, near the roots of blossoming flowers, or
Up in the sky, towards where tall oak trees are reaching?
I see a rainbow on the horizon, and
The sun, golden, rising above the mountains-
Clouds giving way to a sky, cobalt blue in its hue-
Where and if people have souls or spirits,
Some do not know for certain, but I know, I am never alone,
Although my loved ones are amongst the departed-
Oak trees, tall, dogwoods blossoming in the early spring this year and
Evergreens shall be present for always-
Inside of my mind, my loved ones have never died,
I can still hear their voices in deep conversation-
I can almost feel their warm embraces- I am never alone-
I am never alone because I believe in spirits and carry them inside
My heart and my mind everywhere I go-
I see their faces in every blossoming flower,
Their voices echoing in every breeze-and one day
We shall dance together on the horizon, because I believe that
People really do not die as fond memories shall carry their spirits home-
And home is wherever I walk, what I see and in the beauty of nature, while
The rainbow on the horizon reflects that everlasting love in our souls…
poem by Claudia Krizay
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