Reconciling the irreconcilables . . .

In the mailbox this Satyr's day . . .

Today is the 481st anniversary of the birth of St. John of the Cross. The mystic/poet was born on this date in 1542 Hontiveros, Spain (1542). With St. Teresa of Avila, together they reformed with much turmoil, the Carmelite order of the Catholic church. Also considered one of Spain’s greatest poets, he is the patron saint of mystics, contemplatives, and many poets in and outside of Spain.

We are born into a very fierce existence that is continually trying to change and mature us into a larger understanding of ourselves and our world, these changes quite often take the forms of traumatic appearances and disappearances, with a sense of our final disappearance becoming more insistent as the years go by. Every human life is an almost surreal and wild experience; even the most ordinary existence is an enormous drama in which each of us participates. Poetry has always been a living way of bringing together the irreconcilables in our lives, a language equal both to the drama and the sense of privilege in being alive, no matter our difficulties. – David Whyte

The Dark Night of the Soul (edited by j.b.)

As I parted,

with his gentle hand he wounded me
and caused all my senses to be suspended.

I remained, lost in oblivion;
my face I reclined on the Beloved.
All ceased and I abandoned myself,
eaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.

– John of the Cross