The blessed sleep of the just
again evades me, and so I now
sit at the hearth, holy
in its own way: a kind
of graced sanctuary.
Shadows dance lauds on walls,
while tongues of fire preach
a sound sermon:
“You are standing on holy ground!”
In this chapel, no offering is taken,
but it offers opportunity
to sing praise, if not
with raised hands then
at least with razed
certainties,
knowing that knowing
is like a flame:
illumining and dangerous
both, and then gone,
so quickly
gone…
Advertisements
this is a warm and thoughtful reflection, Allen; you make us feel like we are there, sitting with you in that sacred night space.
Thank you for this…Faith is much connected to longing for the divine ….beautiful connection to knowing like a flame
I was especially taken with this:
knowing that knowing
is like a flame:
illumining and dangerous
both
I turned it over for some time, and came to the conclusion that the flame of knowledge can be dangerous precisely because of what it illumines. That brief glimpse into the darkness, and what it contains, can be unnerving at best.
Yes, that certainly works for me. Dangerous, I think, is not bad but sometimes is a corollary of the necessary. But knowledge that is very good can be used in very dangerous ways.