On a Theme by Thomas Merton by Denise Levertov

An old photograph of 
Denise Levertov and Thomas Merton

On a Theme by Thomas Merton   

"Adam, where are you?" 

          God's hands
palpate darkness, the void
that is Adam's inattention,
his confused attention to everything,
impassioned by multiplicity, his despair.

Multiplicity, his despair;
          God's hands
enacting blindness. Like a child
at a barbaric fairgrounds --
noise, lights, the violent odors --
Adam fragments himself. The whirling rides!

Fragmented Adam stares.
          God's hands
unseen, the whirling rides
dazzle, the lights blind him. Fragmented,
he is not present to himself. God
suffers the void that is his absence.

Link to an
essay written by Susan McCaslin
that draws us deeper into what connected Thomas Merton and Denise Levertov.

In this essay McCaslin quotes Levertov as she reflect on a poet's place in the action for peace, 

"When words penetrate deep into us they change the chemistry of the soul, of the imagination. We have no right to do that to people if we don’t share the consequences."

Ponder on these words for a lifetime...