BEFORE MATINS, REMEMBERING A POEM

 

REMEMBERING A POEM *

FROM HALF A CENTURY BACK

BEFORE A MATINS WALK

but of course!

The monk as athlete.

Just a half breath

from the athlete of prayer.

He’d get himself in better shape.

He rose earlier and earlier,

and David’s psalms

sang to him as they did

when he was a child.

He walked his neighborhood alone

while his neighbors slept,

and during these November mornings

poems he’d memorized over the years

began arriving like old friends,

and one day, Father Merton himself,

could it be? ...seemed to be walking

with him, whispering in his ear,

You Sister, have chosen a path

too steep for others to follow.

Jim Bodeen

11-20 November 2022

*TO A SEVERE NUN by Thomas Merton