Loving and Hating

As of this morning I've developed a great big crush on Joanna Macy, who was recently interviewed on the radio show "Being" (formerly, "Speaking of Faith"). Over the course of the interview she addresses many of the sentiments that arose during last night's Kairos reflection: being able to express grief and anger without having to follow that with articulate solutions; wildly loving in spite of (sometimes all the more because of) woundedness; the interconnectedness we share with each other, the earth and God; to name a few. She also quotes a lot Rilke. If you are interested I suggested giving it a listen here.

Below are a couple of the poems that really struck me:

"Go to the Limits of Your Longing"
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.


Book of Hours, I 59


"Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower"
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.


Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29