Jan 21 2022

Thomas Merton – O Sweet Irrational Worship

Published by at 10:08 am under Ivan's Story,Poetry

O Sweet Irrational Worship
by Thomas Merton

Wind and a bobwhite
And the afternoon sun.

By ceasing to question the sun
I have become light,

Bird and wind.

My leaves sing.

I am earth, earth

All these lighted things
Grow from my heart.

A tall, spare pine
Stands like the initial of my first
Name when I had one.

When I had a spirit,
When I was on fire
When this valley was
Made out of fresh air
You spoke my name
In naming Your silence:
O sweet, irrational worship!

I am earth, earth

My heart’s love
Bursts with hay and flowers.
I am a lake of blue air
In which my own appointed place
Field and valley
Stand reflected.

I am earth, earth

Out of my grass heart
Rises the bobwhite.

Out of my nameless weeds
His foolish worship.

— from Selected Poems of Thomas Merton, by Thomas Merton


/ Image by Begbie Images /

Well, I seem to be mostly recovered from the Covid I picked up a couple of weeks ago. It’s been no fun, certainly, a miserable sort of flu, but not the sort of thing to bring society to a halt. I know that different people have different reactions, that the vaccine can lessen symptoms, and that vulnerable individuals can end up in the hospital, but, having come through, I find myself asking if it is truly worth all of the fear and blame and isolation that has gripped society.

I shake my head and step outside where life continues. I listen to the wind. I wait for the winter clouds to part to feel the afternoon sun on my face.

Wind and a bobwhite
And the afternoon sun.

Bobwhite, if you don’t know what it is, is a quail-like bird with a unique whistle that sounds like bob-WHITE, bob-bob-WHITE. Reading the opening lines to Merton’s poem, I imagine a walk on a slow afternoon, a gentle breeze, the airy space cut by the clear whistle of the bobwhite.

By ceasing to question the sun
I have become light,
Bird and wind.

I can see a few possible reactions to this statement. Some might read the phrase “ceasing to question” as one of religious dogma, suggesting that a certain freedom comes from no longer questioning one’s belief system. Knowing Merton’s spiritually inclusive philosophy, I don’t think that’s what he intended.

Rather than standing outside of the moment, turning the scene into an external landscape for the questioning mind to define and label and remain apart from, we become quiet and present. We merge into the moment. We don’t see a pretty seen awash in light, we become the light itself… and the birdsong and the breeze. We fill the space.

I am earth, earth
All these lighted things
Grow from my heart.

The boundaries of identity expand. Who we are is not limited by the body or the stories we tell ourselves. We are everything spread out before us, the earth itself. From the earth’s deep heart, our heart, all things grow and emerge to be bathed in the light of the sun.

A tall, spare pine
Stands like the initial of my first
Name when I had one.

I love the way a bold, solitary tree stands forth to become a signifier of — what? An initial, one’s first name, one’s personal name. But that name itself has become ephemeral, lost in the larger self. With a quiet mind, we have become not only wordless, but nameless. Finding the wider self in the wider reality, we have moved beyond names.

Out of my nameless weeds
His foolish worship.

However we define worship, reverence, the celebration of life and innate goodness, may we allow ourselves to be swept up in it fully — foolishly.


Recommended Books: Thomas Merton

Selected Poems of Thomas Merton The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton A Thomas Merton Reader The Strange Islands: Poems by Thomas Merton Thomas Merton Monk & Poet: A Critical Study


Thomas Merton, Thomas Merton poetry, Christian poetry Thomas Merton

US (1915 – 1968) Timeline
Christian : Catholic

Thomas Merton was a hugely influential Catholic monk and mystic of the 20th century who wrote with great insight and inspiration on the spiritual journey and the quest for meaning and inner silence within the modern world. He was an important voice in opening up a dialog between the spiritual traditions of East and West. He himself studied many Eastern spiritual practices deeply, from Zen meditation to Hindu yogic philosophy.

He is best known today for his essays on the spiritual life, especially his first book, The Seven Storey Mountain.

More poetry by Thomas Merton

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6 responses so far

6 Responses to “Thomas Merton – O Sweet Irrational Worship”

  1. marrobon 21 Jan 2022 at 9:01 pm

    Very glad to hear of your recovery , Ivan.
    Thomas Merton’s mystical, pantheistic poem is a most suitable
    way to celebrate your return.

    May you remain strong, safe and protected.
    Maria

  2. Carolon 23 Jan 2022 at 6:14 am

    Thank You Ivan, for this poem from Thomas Merton. Merton’s writing helped me recover
    from 10 years of depression, two severe depressive episodes, and I have still been most
    thankful for his writing. I found his poem Psalms in one of my books and relived my first
    reading of that: When psalms surprise me with their music and antiphons turn to rum
    The Spirit sings: the bottom drops out of my soul. His words caused a physical reaction
    in my body! And then the closing: When God sings by himself in acres of night and
    walls fall down, that guarded paradise.
    I haven’t thought of Merton in a while, but his words and thoughts, he graciously shared,
    helped me return to the living. Thank you for these memories.

  3. Anna M.on 23 Jan 2022 at 6:22 am

    “By ceasing to question the sun
    I have become light,
    Bird and wind.”

    So, beautiful stanza to note

    passed away of the great Zen teacher

    Thich Nhat Hanh

    on 22.01.2022

    “Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow —
    even today I am still arriving.

    Look deeply: every second I am arriving
    to be a bud on a Spring branch,
    to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
    learning to sing in my new nest,
    to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
    to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

    I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
    to fear and to hope.

    The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
    of all that is alive.”

    Please call me by my true names…

  4. Claudia Duffeeon 23 Jan 2022 at 7:36 pm

    Thank you for your comments on Thomas Merton’s poetry. I have read a lot of his writings and now the newer books about his writings. The book published on his Alaskan Journey is most interesting because it includes transcripts of his talks to groups while on this journey. The topics reflect his most recent thoughts on spirituality prior to his Asian Journey. To me these transcripts are more applicable to our spiritual journeys.
    I especially appreciate your comments because I find the contexts of his poems difficult to link to his words and thus understanding is limited.

  5. Anna M.on 24 Jan 2022 at 6:22 am

    IN MEMORIUM

    of THICH NHAT HANH

    On January 22nd, 2022, THICH NHAT HANH departed the body he had worn for 95 years.

    two monks
    one voice
    similar poetry

    “Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow —
    even today I am still arriving.

    Look deeply: every second I am arriving
    to be a bud on a Spring branch,
    to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
    learning to sing in my new nest,
    to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
    to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

    I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
    to fear and to hope.

    The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
    of all that is alive.”

  6. Anna M.on 24 Jan 2022 at 10:11 am

    IN MEMORIUM

    of THICH NHAT HANH

    On January 22nd, 2022, THICH NHAT HANH departed the body he had worn for 95 years.

    two monks
    the same voice
    the same poetry

    “Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow —
    even today I am still arriving.

    Look deeply: every second I am arriving
    to be a bud on a Spring branch,
    to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
    learning to sing in my new nest,
    to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
    to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

    I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
    to fear and to hope.

    The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
    of all that is alive.”

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