The Moor
by R. S. ThomasOriginal Language English
It was like a church to me.
I entered it on soft foot,
Breath held like a cap in the hand.
It was quiet.
What God was there made himself felt,
Not listened to, in clean colours
That brought a moistening of the eye,
In movement of the wind over grass.
There were no prayers said. But stillness
Of the heart's passions -- that was praise
Enough; and the mind's cession
Of its kingdom. I walked on,
Simple and poor, while the air crumbled
And broke on me generously as bread.
 | -- from For Lovers of God Everywhere: Poems of the Christian Mystics, by Roger Housden |
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It was like a church to me.
Isn't this a wonderful way to step into the wild?
I entered it on soft foot,
Breath held like a cap in the hand.
The proper approach to the natural world, with reverence and receptivity.
This is one of the great gifts of living nature, it can release us from our endless mental and social constructions. We receive the opportunity to witness the wider reality. The limitations of our thoughts, our lives, the ambitions of the human world, are revealed amidst the larger landscape.
It was quiet.
What God was there made himself felt,
Not listened to...
Nature offers us a direct experience of communion. These are not sermons or discourses that pass through the ear to be sifted and sorted by the brain before, hopefully, some truth trickles into the deeper awareness. This is the living stillness touching the heart.
There were no prayers said. But stillness
Of the heart's passions -- that was praise
Enough; and the mind's cession
Of its kingdom.
Notice the break in the first line of the verse above. "There were no prayers said. But stillness--" By ending the line on "stillness," the mind contemplating these words naturally halts, finding its own stillness. The mind unconsciously reads the line as if it was a complete sentence, "There were no prayers said, but stillness." Stillness, then, becomes the prayer.
And the powerful line break dividing the second and third lines. We read them as, "That was praise!" followed by "Enough." On a certain level that isolated "enough" captures the essence here: He is speaking of the stillness of the heart's passions and the mind finally yielding its control. "Enough!" Enough of the busy mind and the hungry heart.
The quiet breath of the natural world remind us that stillness is the real praise, and prayer, and presence.
I walked on,
Simple and poor, while the air crumbled
And broke on me generously as bread.
Mmm.
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