A FEW GOOD RELIGIOUS POEMS

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John Berryman

1914-1972

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This is from a much longer poem titled

 "Eleven Addresses to the Lord"

....this is "Address" Number 1.

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Master of beauty, craftsman of the snowflake,

inimitable contriver,

endower of Earth so gorgeous & different from the boring Moon,

thank you for such as it is my gift.

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I have made up a morning prayer to you

containing with precision everything that

 most matters.

'According to Thy will' the thing begins.

It took me off & on two days.  It does not

aim at eloquence.

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You have come to my rescue again & again

in my impassable, sometimes despairing years.

You have allowed my brilliant friends to destroy themselves

and I am still here, severely damaged,

but functioning.

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Unknowable, as I am unknown to my

 guinea pigs: how can I 'love' you?

I only as far as gratitude & awe

confidently & absolutely go.

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I have no idea whether we live again.

It doesn't seem likely

from either the scientific or the philosophical

point of view

but certainly all things are possible to you.

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and I believe as fixedly in the Resurrection

appearances to Peter

and to Paul

as I believe I sit in this blue chair.

Only that may have been a special case

to establish their initiatory faith.

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Whatever your end may be, accept my amazement.

May I stand until death forever at attention

for any your least instruction or enlightenment.

I even feel sure you will assist me again,

Master of insight & beauty.

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Denise Levertov

1923-1997

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Flickering Mind

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Lord, not you

it is I who am absent

At first

belief was a joy I kept in secret,

stealing alone

into sacred places:

a quick glance, and away - and back,

circling.

I have long since uttered your name

but now

I elude your presence.

I stop

to think about you, and my mind

at once

like a minnow darts away,

darts

into the shadows, into gleams that fret

unceasing over

the river's purling and passing.

Not for one second

will my self hold still, but wanders

anywhere,

everywhere it can turn.  Not you,

it is I am absent.

You are the stream, the fish, the light,

the pulsing shadow,

you the unchanging presence, in whom all

moves and changes.

How can I focus my flickering, perceive

at the fountain's heart

the sapphire I know is there.

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Allen Ginsburg

1926-1997

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Psalm III

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To God: to illuminate all men.

Beginning with Skid Road.

Let Occidental and Washington be transformed into a
 higher place,

 the plaza of eternity.

Illuminate the welders in shipyards with

the brilliance of their torches.

Let the crane operator lift up his arm for joy.

Let elevators creak and speak,

ascending and descending in awe.

Let the mercy of the flower's direction

beckon in the eye.

Let the straight flower bespeak its purpose

in straightness - to seek the light.

Let the crooked flower bespeak its purpose

in crookedness - to seek the light.

Let the crookedness and the straightness

bespeak the light.

Let Puget Sound be a blast of light.

I feed on your Name like a cockroach on

a crumb - this cockroach is holy.

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                                     Seattle, June, 1956

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Joseph Awad

1929-2009

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For Jude's Lebanon

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It is said he was a relative of Jesus,

That his apostolate

Was to the land we know as Lebanon,

That he gave his blood for Christ.

What wonders did he perform

To win the Barnum & Bailey blurb,

"Patron saint of the impossible."

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I'm beginning a novena to St. Jude.

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His lone epistle opens lovingly:

"Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ

And brother of James, to be called

Who have been loved in God the Father

And preserved for Christ Jesus,

Mercy and peace and love

Be yours in abundance."

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I'm beginning a novena to St. Jude.

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He had a poet's way with words.

Evil, sensual men he called

"Wild wave of the sea,

Foaming up their shame,

Wandering stars for whom

The storm of darkness

Has been reserved forever."

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I'm beginning a novena to St. Jude.

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In Lebanon there is loud lamentation.

Beirut, once beautiful Beirut,

Bloodied by Christian, Jew and Druze,

Weeps like a wound just under the

world's heart.

Pontius Pilates in world capitals

Wash their hands, pronouncing solemnly,

"The situation is impossible."

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I'm beginning a novena to St. Jude.

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THE GARDEN OF TRUTH & THE GARDENER HIMSELF

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We were created to transcend the finitude and limitations

of the human state.  The mystery of our life on earth is not only that we are born, live, and die in a journey whose beginning and end we know not; it is also that within this horizontal journey we are given the possibility of wayfaring vertically beyond all the temporal and spatial accidents of our terrestrial existence.  And it is essentially for thye sake of making this second journey that we were put here on earth.  This journey, which takes us to the abode of the One and the Garden of Truth, is the primary raison d'etre of our existence in this world and the end of the journey, the ultimate goal of human life.

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From one point of view, the journey considered horizontally seems to be long, but from the metaphysical point of view, which is based on the vertical dimension, it is nothing other than that single instant when we surrender ourselves to God and begin the path of ascent toward Him.  We were created to know the Garden of Truth and ultimately the Gardener Himself, and to reach it through the full realization of this knowledge.  Sufism is one of the major paths that the Gardener has created, within the framework of Islam, to the Garden.

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Surely there are other paths and Sufism would be the first to attest to the universality of revelation. 

Let us then take advantage of the here and now to travel beyond all times and places, before the hand of destiny removes from us the possibility of that vertical journey, which begins here and now and finally returns to Here and Now.  We travel to the There only to discover that it is Here, and to the future that is beyond earthly time only to see that it is Now.

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To make the journey to the Garden means to go from here to There, and the fruit of the journey is the realization that There is Here.  That is why in the Quran, God addresses the Prophet, "If thy sevant asks thee about Me, truly I am Near."  That Divine Reality, the Gardener, is Near; we have only to realize His Nearness.  As for the Garden of Truth, like the Gardener, it resides at the center of our being.  Happy are those who are able to reach this Garden while they are still in the human state and have the possibility of doing so.

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From THE GARDEN OF TRUTH

The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition

by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

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If you act as an instrument of God, whatever comes will not affect you; He will bear it. Then you will be able to finish what you started. You must be the instrument, then He will be the One who is the Doer. That is the point. Evil is everywhere, it is joined with you.
When you set out to do something good, when you are the instrument to do a good duty, the opposite of it, evil, will oppose you. If the “I” sets out to do something, it will be difficult, but if you become an instrument (of God), the weight is His. Then it will be easy. You must think of this. This point is the point of psychology. This is the way you must realize wisdom and truth in your life.
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 Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Sufi Philosopher (d. 1986)

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MARRIAGE BLESSING FROM A SUFI MYSTIC

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May these vows and this marriage be blessed.

May this marriage be delicious milk,

like wine and havlah.

May it offer fruit and shade,

like the date palm.

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May this marriage be full of laughter,

making every day a day in Paradise.

May this marriage be a token of compassion,

a seal of joy now and for ever more.

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May this marriage have a gracious face and a good name,

an omen as welcome

as the moon in a clear daylight sky.

I have run out of words to describe

how spirit mingles in this marriage.

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Jalil al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) Persia

Muslim poet, theologian, and Sufi mystic

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