LIFE IS SIMPLER
TOWARD EVENING
BY
RALPH WRIGHT O.S.B.
Copyright 2011 Father Ralph Wright, OSB,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by Monograph Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-0-9840-1172-8
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Cover By William E. Mathis
© 2011 William E. Mathis, All Rights Reserved
PROLOGUE
"It is the honourable characteristic of Poetry that its materials are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind" - so read the opening lines of the 'Advertisement' or Prologue to the Lyrical Ballads of Coleridge and Wordsworth published in 1798. After describing the poems that the book contains as 'experimental' Wordsworth, writing anonymously, goes on to say: "It is desirable that readers should not suffer the solitary word 'Poetry,' a word of very disputed meaning, to stand in the way of their gratification; but that while they are perusing this book, they should ask themselves if it contains a natural delineation of human passions, human characters, and human incidents; and if the answer be favorable to the author's wishes, that they should consent to be pleased in spite of that most dreadful enemy of our pleasures, our own pre-established codes of decision."
These poems, too, are offered for the pleasure of the reader whoever he or she may be. They are the product of the past 15 or 20 years of my life as a monk. It is considered more hazardous these days to put one's 'vision' into poetry: people immediately feel uneasy and talk of propaganda. But perhaps it is when we cease to try to share our deepest thoughts, feelings and beliefs - about God and love and sin and silence and violence and hatred and union and distance and time and eternity - that our poetry ceases to please or to inspire. I would like my poetry to be read and loved not only by poets but also by the non-poet clientele of our world. Men and women of every walk of life and every interest. From those who program computers or punch cash registers to those vice-presidents who make multi-million dollar deals and survey the world through the dark one-way windows of tall buildings. For we all have to cope on an almost daily basis with belief, unbelief, love, loyalty, betrayal, union, violence, pain, ecstasy, joy, depression, sickness, anger and death.
The poems that follow are attempts to capture moments from these common experiences and to hold them up boldly and without shame for others to share. The Christian sees the dark side - sin, tragedy, separation, death. But he also sees the awesome beauty of all
PEOPLE WHISPER GOD TO ME
People whisper God to me
far more than mountains
for landscape beauty bores —
however roaring or majestic
is the pageant music
played behind
their massive faces
sunsets have no sympathy
and — for all its background
awe — inspiring paintwash —
granite cannot smile.
WOMAN
within her
and of her being
comes one to be
who will not cease
she speaks each day
God's Word made men
uttered again, again
and again
into our silence
hers is a dignity
that none may measure
hers a patience
refined by fire
hers a majesty
unperceived
in the painful tedium
of giving birth
the mystery
of her being
echoes the mystery
of God creating
and out of darkness
Light
SWALLOW
With a lightning dive and a
swoop
sweeping long and low
over rolling grass, hillside
and sudden pools
skimming the ground or the water and swinging
with boomerang motion
back and high in the air
handsome as Hector and sleek
as some Black Beauty
groomed stud stallion
— only for speed —
you knive your way
through empty air
with scimitar sureness
and finite ease
leaving a wake
of high peep notes
and with the passing
pen
