The Road To Wonder

This poem is based upon ‘The Life of Moses,’ an ancient text written by one of my favorite Church Fathers – St. Gregory of Nyssa – who also happens to be the patron of this blog.

In the quiet of the shadows, where the heavy curtains fall,
I find a sacred stillness that answers every call.
I am alone but never lonely, wrapped in velvet night,
While the world beyond the threshold trades its heavy, fading light.
The routine give and take is gone, the clamor hushed and still,
And in this hollowed silence, I am granted sovereign will.

Bequeathed with sudden authority, I stand within the gate,
The master of my spirit and the pilot of my fate.
If I am to leave the bondage of the person I have been,
The work must start in earnest from the hollow deep within.
I call upon twin angels—Austerity’s sharp blade,
And Intensity’s bright fire, where my future self is made.

Before the dawn can break the sky, the shadows start to crawl,
Envy, pride, and pleasure come to batter at the wall.
They storm the gates of sense and mind, a desperate, wild siege,
But they find no king to welcome them, no subject, and no liege.
For my conscience is a fortress, and it offers up the prize:
The fruits of meditation gathered under moonlit skies.

My heart begins a melody, a song of rising light,
It takes to wings of faith and hope to navigate the height.
I do not seek a finish line or a trophy on a shelf;
The progress of the journey is the perfection of the self.
In the image of the Maker, I am fashioned and sustained,
By an unmerited, unlimited grace that cannot be restrained.

Like Moses on the mountain, I ascend by slow degrees,
Calmed by a love that stills the storm and quiets restless seas.
I do not wait for goodness to arrive or for the show;
I am being made and mended, becoming good as I go.