How Long We Wait

How Long We Wait

How long we wait,

with minds as quiet as time,

Like sentries on a tower.

How long we watch,

by night,

like the astronomers.

Heaven, when will we hear you sing,

Arising from our grassy hills,

And say: “The dark is done, and Day

Laughs like a Bridegroom in

His tent, the lovely sun,

His tent the sun, His tent the smiling sky!”?

How long we wait with minds as dim as ponds

While stars swim slowly homeward in the water of

our west!

Heaven, when will we hear you sing?

Thomas Merton. Collected Poems.New York: New Directions Press, 1977: 89-90.

I sense a new seriousness, and a new light-heartedness, in what I must do from now on in my life. God has been trying for some time, I think, to get me to prioritize what I do, and don't do. I think he is calling me to concentrate on him, and on what he gives me, rather than on what I think I ought to be doing for him. I've known this, in a kind of a way, for a long time; but I've tried to give lip-service to it, rather than admit my deep need.Hmm. Lots to think about.