“We are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.” Thomas Merton
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Oh, the wisdom. Don’t you just love Merton?
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Going Home
Even words—
cussed-forth, so to speak—wound
that which lies ever-longing,
hidden in God’s wide arms.
We will all die, you know.—
So who can explain
those things that
make us hurt each other?
Why would someone ask who I am,
knowing—I will become
my own accuser? Doesn’t anyone
know the meaning of safe?
A speck of dust waits,
floats, not-so-blithely, by—singing,
dreaming the same dream,
every waking moment,
of a footprint
on something a bit more solid
than shifting sand.
first published in an earlier version in GFWoman
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Do you see the connection between the quote and the poem?


5 comments
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July 15, 2009 at 12:04 am
writeathome
Hi Helen,
I’m not sure I get the quote, but I do like the poem.
July 15, 2009 at 9:31 am
phoebe kate
Marvelous poem, Helen.
July 15, 2009 at 12:08 pm
jessiecarty
i love using cussed out in the way you did
July 15, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Mervi
Your though is one to consider!
Are we one? Are we many?
Are we many who become one?
Mervi
July 15, 2009 at 12:37 pm
helenl
Thanks for the comments.
I think we are one because God made us so, but we pretend we are not. That way we can feel better about some of us than others. Of course, singling out the ones we like kind of negates God’s purpose by cheapening The Cross. If we think Jesus died for some but not all, we are only “imagining” we get it. We must be what we are: people.