Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Secular or Eclectic Contemporary	About Dorothy Walters Timeline (1928 - )
<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Dorothy Walters | Next Poem >>
Original Language English	The Moment
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Death   Light   Night   Silence     Recommended Books Marrow of Flame : Poems of the Spiritual Journey, by Dorothy Walters Unmasking the Rose: A Record of a Kundalini Initiation, by Dorothy Walters	"We Must Die Because We Have Known Them"                (Title of a poem by Rilke, taken from the                sayings of Ptah-hotep, ms. from 2,000 BCE) And not once, but many times over, again and again, how we disappeared into that deep well of darkness, shuddering beneath that load of silence, clinging to our narrow ledge. Yet the darkness, sometimes, unfolded as light. Our atoms dissolved in it, each separate molecule opening into a radiant disk of feeling. How still we became, witness and thing seen, spectacle and observer, each point admitting an untrammeled flood.     -- from Marrow of Flame : Poems of the Spiritual Journey, by Dorothy Walters Amazon.com
<<Previous Poem | View More Poems by Dorothy Walters | Next Poem >>

Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This poem by Dorothy Walters so beautifully evokes the state of awareness of the sacred experience.

"...how we disappeared / into that deep well / of darkness, shuddering beneath that load of silence..." The silence she is talking about is a psychic silence, a stillness of mind and quietness of awareness that is so all encompassing that your personal sense of identity disappears. It can be like diving into a "deep well" of silence.

Yet, for many mystics, within that "darkness" we find ourselves infused with a dazzling light.

I especially like her description of how "our atoms dissolved" in that light, "each separate molecule opening / into a radiant disk of feeling." She's got it -- right there. Each part of ourselves, every cell and sinew, every tremmor and thought, opens to itself in delight, and we discover that we are that which causes them all to shine and hum as a whole.

And the final verse: the stillness, the unity of observed and observer, the two recognized as one, sharing an "untrammeled flood" of bliss.

Beautiful!

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.