Seeing within the One
Dear Reader:
I am no expert on Japanese tanka. What I know is that for centuries, tanka have been the main form of poems written in Japanese. They are brief, usually on nature, love, or spiritual realities. Each poem consists of 31 syllables. Rhyme is not necessary. The form, however, is fixed in five lines, with the following number of syllables in each successive line: 5-7-5-7-7. In Japan I noticed the fondness for odd numbers, so that a tea set purchased would have 5 or 7 cups, for example, and not our western 4, 8, 12. The beauty of tanka comes in part from delicate and brief lines, simply stated, hinting at more than words say. Paul
I am no expert on Japanese tanka. What I know is that for centuries, tanka have been the main form of poems written in Japanese. They are brief, usually on nature, love, or spiritual realities. Each poem consists of 31 syllables. Rhyme is not necessary. The form, however, is fixed in five lines, with the following number of syllables in each successive line: 5-7-5-7-7. In Japan I noticed the fondness for odd numbers, so that a tea set purchased would have 5 or 7 cups, for example, and not our western 4, 8, 12. The beauty of tanka comes in part from delicate and brief lines, simply stated, hinting at more than words say. Paul
Forenote for readers: These tanka are best read, I think, as snapshots of experiences, more than as a logical flow—which they are not. In time I may edit them; if you have a few favorites, please let me know, so they will not be excised.
Psyche waits in peace,
Waits for the divine lover
To draw her inward.
Into clear still awareness
Searching and not yet knowing.
Psyche, tender child,
Beloved by the gods above,
Friend of all that is;
You await union to come,
Drawing you out of yourself.
You enter darkness,
Still, empty, and unknowing
Longing for the One,
Longing for love’s full union
Lover and beloved as one.
Divine psyche waits,
Alert for love’s upliftings,
Willing to surrender
All it knows and thinks it loves
For the divine Lover’s seed.
Into Psyche comes Love,
Unknown, fully good, alive,
Eros, sacred god,
Who joins lover and beloved
In union beyond knowing.
Enter into souls,
Eros, into receiving
Beautiful Psyches,
Conforming to your movements,
Unresisting and yielding.
In silence waiting,
Longingly ready to yield
To love’s entrance in,
Unseen, unfelt, beyond hope,
Full of possibilities.
With you we arise
Out of self in body-self,
Into unknowing,
Together in One lifting
Psyches beyond consciousness.
Your word penetrates,
Carrying you into me,
Your mind into mine,
Open to receive love’s seed,
Truth-love into waiting mind.
Enter in, Love’s truth,
Now yielding, unresisting,
Trusting Love’s action,
Implanting truth’s living seed
Into mind’s fertility,
Beloved divine Love,
What you shall bring forth in us
Still remains unknown;
In time you will engender
Creatures of eternity.
Many beget in flesh;
You beget into Psyche,
Seed of divine truth:
You implant your fertile Mind
In souls surrendered in love.
We await your seed,
Truth implanted into minds
Awakened by love,
Yielding themselves to your ways
Surrendering all they are.
Make known your ways, Love,
To souls longing for Your seed,
Offspring bringing life
To whomsoever You will,
Life with love overflowing.
What is the task, Love,
That you will truly bring forth,
Souls cooperating,
Yielding to your sacred work,
Spirit inbreathing psyches,
Love, and you will love;
Yield fully to love-life’s ways,
Self-giving true love,
And Love will bring forth through you
A harvest for death’s beyond.
Love, and you will love:
Purify your hearts for me,
And you will bear me
Into souls sunk in clay mud,
Hopelessly trapped in themselves.
You will be shown, friends,
But first purify yourselves,
Surrender to Love,
Divine love beyond telling,
Ungrasping, yielding, giving.
Make ready your wills,
Willing to receive Love’s truth,
Yourselves releasing
Into the abyss of Love,
Demanding nothing for you.
Think not of my seed
Until your minds are empty,
Wholly unclinging;
First must come wholly true love,
Undemanding, self-giving.
Renounce earthly love
That seeks for itself alone,
And above all else;
Immerse yourselves in my Love,
Bathe, refresh, heal, cleanse, obey.
A rose is a rose,
And one rose is sufficient;
Seek nothing from Love
But to love as Love does love,
Seeking nothing in return.
And you, little man,
Until you renounce your will,
Good seed will not sprout;
Vow to me your intention
Not to grasp in any way.
Holy, divine Love,
Cleanse my heart for love alone,
Asking for nothing;
Then alone can your good seed
Bring forth joy abundantly.
To you alone Love,
By you alone, and for you,
I yield everything,
And cast into your hot fire
Metals to be purified.
Throw your metals, man,
In the purifying fire,
Holding nothing back--
Not a whisper of a wish;
Freely received, freely give.
Draw your strength from me;
Fear is useless—love and trust;
I’ll never leave you,
So release all claims on me,
And cast your fate to the wind.
I’m with you always,
All that’s mine is also yours:
Now surrender.
Cast yourself into the fire
Of all-consuming pure love.
Eros purified
Still sings his twin wings and flies;
Fear not, little man,
You’ve nothing that’s good to lose,
And all that is good to gain.
Arise and come away;
Throw off the pack from your back,
Lightly you will soar.
Trusting my free acceptance,
You’ll become worthy of love.
What must I do, friend,
To convince you of my love?
Even if you die,
My love will enliven you;
Trust, friend; you are accepted.
I’ve not condemned you;
Patiently I’ve awaited you.
I accept you, dear soul,
Just as you are, so enter
Into the feast I’ve prepared.
I’ve waited years, friend,
Years for your return to me.
Now just surrender,
Trusting that you’re home in me,
At home in eternal love.
You’ve overlooked me,
Present but absent to you,
Whose mind roamed elsewhere;
Perfect am I in beauty;
Why look for less, beloved friend.
With a crown of thorns
You have pierced my stoney heart;
Crowned with true love,
You’ve broken through my thick walls,
Overflowing into me.
For you I will die,
Gladly die to all in me,
Except for you, Love,
Purged in me of selfishness,
Returning my soul to you.
I await your love,
Alone yes, but not lonely;
For you scaled my walls,
Entered into my orchard,
And shared with me our best fruit.
God’s time is the best:
Now when you knock, I open,
Longing to see truth,
Renouncing all illusions,
Living in your love’s pure light.
You have touched my heart--
Your hand is God’s hand for me.
Shunned, you welcomed me--
Not as some wish me to be,
All naked before Love’s eyes.
I was a stranger,
And you in Christ welcomed me.
I was in prison,
And you deigned to visit me,
Feeding me on wholesome food.
One love suffices,
One to bear the love of One,
One to heal all wounds,
One to receive one sailing,
Tossed and lost in restless waves.
You spoke, but did I hear?
You acted, but did I see?
Your hand was upon me:
Wanting to go my own way,
Gently you turned me around.
How blind was / am I?
Do I receive true love
Accepting, guiding
Into the realm of God’s love
Asking nothing in return?
Blest are the child-like
Who trust their father’s kind love
And humble themselves,
Accepting they’re accepted
Into love’s close company.
Now I understand
That you need not say in words
What you have shown me:
The love of love crucified,
The power of love alive.
You waited for me,
Patiently enduring me,
Not trusting your love,
Squandering myself abroad
Rather than receive your love.
Love brings into one
The soul’s vision of all things.
Gradually, light dawns;
The puzzle’s many pieces
Become one distinct picture.
Light dawns for the just:
Seeing the whole wholly one,
Not fragmented parts,
But all seen and loved in One
At once until soul’s descent.
I need not love you
In any way, but reflect
Back to divine Love
The love love loves me through you,
Radiant divine lover.
You speak; God reveals;
You act; the divine acts through you;
You are, for God is;
You love, and my soul receives
Eternity within Time.
Thinking brings to light
What before was dimly seen;
Fragments coalesce;
Understanding grows apace
As all merges into God.
Often I wondered
Why these years were let to pass
Without oneing us.
God’s time truly the best time
For One’s ingathering.
We one into Love:
You and I in each other,
Union without sex--
Not sex without real union.
Two becoming one in One.
The process is complete
as One realizes itself.
The road will have rocks,
But love’s uniting triumph
Has been won by One in Christ.
In awareness,
In one truth my psyche basks:
In your simple love
Heaven’s light streams into me,
And all within becomes one.
Nothing is lost in love;
Time passes as truth unfolds,
So be at peace, friend.
You shall see the one vision
Of each in each beyond death.
Lovely is the vision--
One Beauty in the many;
Yet more beautiful--
The vision of the all-Good
Homed in your soul’s character.
I’ve worshipped Beauty
In nature’s manifold forms;
Now I stand in awe
Before the all-Good itself
Shining through your character,
Goodness in the soul
Is a man’s precious treasure;
Nothing compares with it;
Beauty fades with passing days,
Goodness grows with good choices.
How pale and scrawny
Was my love until a match
Was struck in the night;
Now my soul’s ablaze with love
Enkindled by acceptance.
Love accepts the other
One unconditionally--
To let be as is,
Not seeking to modify,
But letting love perfect each.
You enter by love
Into my soul’s recesses,
Blinding exploring
As love penetrates darkness,
Making the parts one whole man.
I trusted your love;
Now I know that you are free
To remain or to depart,
As you freely choose; for love
Lives in the will’s free choice.
I renounce all clinging,
Any claim to you or yours:
Freely you’ve given;
Depart in peace, my dear friend;
Return if and when you wish.
I’ve no claim on God,
Who’s given so much freely:
All that I am, LORD,
I freely give back in love,
Asking nothing in return.
I bow before you,
Unseen because internal;
A man bows to God
Present in hearts of mere flesh--
Immortalizing Presence.
You speak your homey words;
I listen; in every word
You utter to me,
I hear you whom my heart loves--
Whoever you are, you two.
You have slipped away
Behind the veil we call death;
Are you less present
Now than you were while on earth?
Or present in other ways?
We both have changed, friend.
We eagerly listen now,
Awaiting a word
That may help illuminate
Or resonate in our hearts.
When I first saw you,
Our eyes met in a moment
Of awe we recall
Many years later. But why?
Life has her mysteries.
When the divine works,
Often it’s immediate,
Unmediated
By thoughts, feelings, or our plans:
Two spirits met in wonder.
—Wm. Paul McKane, OSB
Written 12 January 2020
Waits for the divine lover
To draw her inward.
Into clear still awareness
Searching and not yet knowing.
Psyche, tender child,
Beloved by the gods above,
Friend of all that is;
You await union to come,
Drawing you out of yourself.
You enter darkness,
Still, empty, and unknowing
Longing for the One,
Longing for love’s full union
Lover and beloved as one.
Divine psyche waits,
Alert for love’s upliftings,
Willing to surrender
All it knows and thinks it loves
For the divine Lover’s seed.
Into Psyche comes Love,
Unknown, fully good, alive,
Eros, sacred god,
Who joins lover and beloved
In union beyond knowing.
Enter into souls,
Eros, into receiving
Beautiful Psyches,
Conforming to your movements,
Unresisting and yielding.
In silence waiting,
Longingly ready to yield
To love’s entrance in,
Unseen, unfelt, beyond hope,
Full of possibilities.
With you we arise
Out of self in body-self,
Into unknowing,
Together in One lifting
Psyches beyond consciousness.
Your word penetrates,
Carrying you into me,
Your mind into mine,
Open to receive love’s seed,
Truth-love into waiting mind.
Enter in, Love’s truth,
Now yielding, unresisting,
Trusting Love’s action,
Implanting truth’s living seed
Into mind’s fertility,
Beloved divine Love,
What you shall bring forth in us
Still remains unknown;
In time you will engender
Creatures of eternity.
Many beget in flesh;
You beget into Psyche,
Seed of divine truth:
You implant your fertile Mind
In souls surrendered in love.
We await your seed,
Truth implanted into minds
Awakened by love,
Yielding themselves to your ways
Surrendering all they are.
Make known your ways, Love,
To souls longing for Your seed,
Offspring bringing life
To whomsoever You will,
Life with love overflowing.
What is the task, Love,
That you will truly bring forth,
Souls cooperating,
Yielding to your sacred work,
Spirit inbreathing psyches,
Love, and you will love;
Yield fully to love-life’s ways,
Self-giving true love,
And Love will bring forth through you
A harvest for death’s beyond.
Love, and you will love:
Purify your hearts for me,
And you will bear me
Into souls sunk in clay mud,
Hopelessly trapped in themselves.
You will be shown, friends,
But first purify yourselves,
Surrender to Love,
Divine love beyond telling,
Ungrasping, yielding, giving.
Make ready your wills,
Willing to receive Love’s truth,
Yourselves releasing
Into the abyss of Love,
Demanding nothing for you.
Think not of my seed
Until your minds are empty,
Wholly unclinging;
First must come wholly true love,
Undemanding, self-giving.
Renounce earthly love
That seeks for itself alone,
And above all else;
Immerse yourselves in my Love,
Bathe, refresh, heal, cleanse, obey.
A rose is a rose,
And one rose is sufficient;
Seek nothing from Love
But to love as Love does love,
Seeking nothing in return.
And you, little man,
Until you renounce your will,
Good seed will not sprout;
Vow to me your intention
Not to grasp in any way.
Holy, divine Love,
Cleanse my heart for love alone,
Asking for nothing;
Then alone can your good seed
Bring forth joy abundantly.
To you alone Love,
By you alone, and for you,
I yield everything,
And cast into your hot fire
Metals to be purified.
Throw your metals, man,
In the purifying fire,
Holding nothing back--
Not a whisper of a wish;
Freely received, freely give.
Draw your strength from me;
Fear is useless—love and trust;
I’ll never leave you,
So release all claims on me,
And cast your fate to the wind.
I’m with you always,
All that’s mine is also yours:
Now surrender.
Cast yourself into the fire
Of all-consuming pure love.
Eros purified
Still sings his twin wings and flies;
Fear not, little man,
You’ve nothing that’s good to lose,
And all that is good to gain.
Arise and come away;
Throw off the pack from your back,
Lightly you will soar.
Trusting my free acceptance,
You’ll become worthy of love.
What must I do, friend,
To convince you of my love?
Even if you die,
My love will enliven you;
Trust, friend; you are accepted.
I’ve not condemned you;
Patiently I’ve awaited you.
I accept you, dear soul,
Just as you are, so enter
Into the feast I’ve prepared.
I’ve waited years, friend,
Years for your return to me.
Now just surrender,
Trusting that you’re home in me,
At home in eternal love.
You’ve overlooked me,
Present but absent to you,
Whose mind roamed elsewhere;
Perfect am I in beauty;
Why look for less, beloved friend.
With a crown of thorns
You have pierced my stoney heart;
Crowned with true love,
You’ve broken through my thick walls,
Overflowing into me.
For you I will die,
Gladly die to all in me,
Except for you, Love,
Purged in me of selfishness,
Returning my soul to you.
I await your love,
Alone yes, but not lonely;
For you scaled my walls,
Entered into my orchard,
And shared with me our best fruit.
God’s time is the best:
Now when you knock, I open,
Longing to see truth,
Renouncing all illusions,
Living in your love’s pure light.
You have touched my heart--
Your hand is God’s hand for me.
Shunned, you welcomed me--
Not as some wish me to be,
All naked before Love’s eyes.
I was a stranger,
And you in Christ welcomed me.
I was in prison,
And you deigned to visit me,
Feeding me on wholesome food.
One love suffices,
One to bear the love of One,
One to heal all wounds,
One to receive one sailing,
Tossed and lost in restless waves.
You spoke, but did I hear?
You acted, but did I see?
Your hand was upon me:
Wanting to go my own way,
Gently you turned me around.
How blind was / am I?
Do I receive true love
Accepting, guiding
Into the realm of God’s love
Asking nothing in return?
Blest are the child-like
Who trust their father’s kind love
And humble themselves,
Accepting they’re accepted
Into love’s close company.
Now I understand
That you need not say in words
What you have shown me:
The love of love crucified,
The power of love alive.
You waited for me,
Patiently enduring me,
Not trusting your love,
Squandering myself abroad
Rather than receive your love.
Love brings into one
The soul’s vision of all things.
Gradually, light dawns;
The puzzle’s many pieces
Become one distinct picture.
Light dawns for the just:
Seeing the whole wholly one,
Not fragmented parts,
But all seen and loved in One
At once until soul’s descent.
I need not love you
In any way, but reflect
Back to divine Love
The love love loves me through you,
Radiant divine lover.
You speak; God reveals;
You act; the divine acts through you;
You are, for God is;
You love, and my soul receives
Eternity within Time.
Thinking brings to light
What before was dimly seen;
Fragments coalesce;
Understanding grows apace
As all merges into God.
Often I wondered
Why these years were let to pass
Without oneing us.
God’s time truly the best time
For One’s ingathering.
We one into Love:
You and I in each other,
Union without sex--
Not sex without real union.
Two becoming one in One.
The process is complete
as One realizes itself.
The road will have rocks,
But love’s uniting triumph
Has been won by One in Christ.
In awareness,
In one truth my psyche basks:
In your simple love
Heaven’s light streams into me,
And all within becomes one.
Nothing is lost in love;
Time passes as truth unfolds,
So be at peace, friend.
You shall see the one vision
Of each in each beyond death.
Lovely is the vision--
One Beauty in the many;
Yet more beautiful--
The vision of the all-Good
Homed in your soul’s character.
I’ve worshipped Beauty
In nature’s manifold forms;
Now I stand in awe
Before the all-Good itself
Shining through your character,
Goodness in the soul
Is a man’s precious treasure;
Nothing compares with it;
Beauty fades with passing days,
Goodness grows with good choices.
How pale and scrawny
Was my love until a match
Was struck in the night;
Now my soul’s ablaze with love
Enkindled by acceptance.
Love accepts the other
One unconditionally--
To let be as is,
Not seeking to modify,
But letting love perfect each.
You enter by love
Into my soul’s recesses,
Blinding exploring
As love penetrates darkness,
Making the parts one whole man.
I trusted your love;
Now I know that you are free
To remain or to depart,
As you freely choose; for love
Lives in the will’s free choice.
I renounce all clinging,
Any claim to you or yours:
Freely you’ve given;
Depart in peace, my dear friend;
Return if and when you wish.
I’ve no claim on God,
Who’s given so much freely:
All that I am, LORD,
I freely give back in love,
Asking nothing in return.
I bow before you,
Unseen because internal;
A man bows to God
Present in hearts of mere flesh--
Immortalizing Presence.
You speak your homey words;
I listen; in every word
You utter to me,
I hear you whom my heart loves--
Whoever you are, you two.
You have slipped away
Behind the veil we call death;
Are you less present
Now than you were while on earth?
Or present in other ways?
We both have changed, friend.
We eagerly listen now,
Awaiting a word
That may help illuminate
Or resonate in our hearts.
When I first saw you,
Our eyes met in a moment
Of awe we recall
Many years later. But why?
Life has her mysteries.
When the divine works,
Often it’s immediate,
Unmediated
By thoughts, feelings, or our plans:
Two spirits met in wonder.
—Wm. Paul McKane, OSB
Written 12 January 2020