Tanka
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
9 July 2020 Four Tanka
My amusing Muse,
Even your shadow has fled,
And I, without You,
Languish in the summer sun
Awaiting your burning kiss.
***
My eyes closed in thought
For a few moments of dark
And when they opened
To my surprise and wonder
The world was bathed in sunlight.
***
Without engaging you,
Without disclosing my soul
To your naked breast
Whom could I ever engage
As one man to another?
***
Seek without seeking,
Grasp a hand without grasping,
Remove the soul’s clothes
And do not lie, but speak truth
From heart to listening heart.
My amusing Muse,
Even your shadow has fled,
And I, without You,
Languish in the summer sun
Awaiting your burning kiss.
***
My eyes closed in thought
For a few moments of dark
And when they opened
To my surprise and wonder
The world was bathed in sunlight.
***
Without engaging you,
Without disclosing my soul
To your naked breast
Whom could I ever engage
As one man to another?
***
Seek without seeking,
Grasp a hand without grasping,
Remove the soul’s clothes
And do not lie, but speak truth
From heart to listening heart.
Basil seeds
They dried and they died
Basil and chive seeds planted
Indoors in cold spring
Before freezings yield to warmth
Under Montana’s slow sun.
16 April 2020
They dried and they died
Basil and chive seeds planted
Indoors in cold spring
Before freezings yield to warmth
Under Montana’s slow sun.
16 April 2020
On the border of sleep
I will to linger
Longer on the shores of life
Before departing
From what I have known and loved
Here in a world of beauty.
***
Precious a moment
Of consciousness without storm,
Of breathing freely,
Of hearing thoughtful silence
Of willingness to depart.
***
It’s my love I miss
Not yours which barely flamed up--
The love which fired me
Yielded to its own curfew
Before the setting of the sun.
14 April 2020
I will to linger
Longer on the shores of life
Before departing
From what I have known and loved
Here in a world of beauty.
***
Precious a moment
Of consciousness without storm,
Of breathing freely,
Of hearing thoughtful silence
Of willingness to depart.
***
It’s my love I miss
Not yours which barely flamed up--
The love which fired me
Yielded to its own curfew
Before the setting of the sun.
14 April 2020
Passover Moon
The Moon is waxing
Towards Passover, the night
When death’s angel strikes,
And God’s people are waiting
To be spared death’s slaying sword.
02 April 2020
The Moon is waxing
Towards Passover, the night
When death’s angel strikes,
And God’s people are waiting
To be spared death’s slaying sword.
02 April 2020
Rain poured down, soaking
The surface of the parched earth,
Pooled and flowed away,
Leaving the land hard and dry,
Barely touched, largely unchanged.
30 March 2020
The surface of the parched earth,
Pooled and flowed away,
Leaving the land hard and dry,
Barely touched, largely unchanged.
30 March 2020
Revealed by death
Who will die? Who lives?
The virus spreads easily,
Death in its shadows.
Through one, many infected;
Some are killed; some bury others.
Some loved ones will leave,
Others will linger injured
Our country wounded,
Perhaps crippled, surely changed
By a virus death revealed.
Another virus stalks
Attacking our hearts and minds:
Fear becomes panic,
Hindering prudent action;
And our children hit the beach.
—Wm. P. McKane
19 March 2020
Who will die? Who lives?
The virus spreads easily,
Death in its shadows.
Through one, many infected;
Some are killed; some bury others.
Some loved ones will leave,
Others will linger injured
Our country wounded,
Perhaps crippled, surely changed
By a virus death revealed.
Another virus stalks
Attacking our hearts and minds:
Fear becomes panic,
Hindering prudent action;
And our children hit the beach.
—Wm. P. McKane
19 March 2020
On the border
Why are you afraid?
Even if the world should end--
If you die today--
What is there to fear in death
But ingratitude for life?
Precious gift of life:
For moments of consciousness
Beauty seen, treasured,
For love given and received,
And for the bliss of stillness.
Now is the judgment
When you must decide for truth,
For goodness and love;
When you release your firm grip
And slide peacefully away.
Where are you going
My soul, and where are you now?
What helps you go forth
And what hinders your journey?
Release all you have and are.
Enter silently
And alone in night’s darkness
Expecting nothing
Awake with awe and wonder
Yourself at peace forgotten.
What remains undone?
What worth saying is unsaid?
Dying awaits you:
Gratefully to give your all,
Surrendering to death’s call.
To the One unknown
You entrust all that you are
Thankful for each breath
Until you can breathe no more
And have nothing of your own.
Wm. P. McKane
09 March 2020
Why are you afraid?
Even if the world should end--
If you die today--
What is there to fear in death
But ingratitude for life?
Precious gift of life:
For moments of consciousness
Beauty seen, treasured,
For love given and received,
And for the bliss of stillness.
Now is the judgment
When you must decide for truth,
For goodness and love;
When you release your firm grip
And slide peacefully away.
Where are you going
My soul, and where are you now?
What helps you go forth
And what hinders your journey?
Release all you have and are.
Enter silently
And alone in night’s darkness
Expecting nothing
Awake with awe and wonder
Yourself at peace forgotten.
What remains undone?
What worth saying is unsaid?
Dying awaits you:
Gratefully to give your all,
Surrendering to death’s call.
To the One unknown
You entrust all that you are
Thankful for each breath
Until you can breathe no more
And have nothing of your own.
Wm. P. McKane
09 March 2020
Arrested
Sudden cessation
In the midst of busyness
Everything quiet--
Stillness and no commotion
You listen to the silence.
No sounds and no thoughts,
No action nor reaction,
Attentive here, now,
To what? You truly don’t know:
Your mind has been arrested.
02 March 2020
Sudden cessation
In the midst of busyness
Everything quiet--
Stillness and no commotion
You listen to the silence.
No sounds and no thoughts,
No action nor reaction,
Attentive here, now,
To what? You truly don’t know:
Your mind has been arrested.
02 March 2020
|
Hymn to the One in You
|
You’re alive in me;
You’ve penetrated my soul.
One in Christ’s true love:
Gently you broke through my walls,
Chastely you joined yourself to me.
Loving you, my friend,
Has reawakened my soul;
All the world is full
Of divine wonders again
As my heart vibrates with God.
Your love releases me,
Setting blessed Eros ablaze
Within my psyche.
Now the world is transfigured,
And all the stars sing for joy.
Immortal-mortal
Eros healing me within.
How lonely I felt;
Your love over-reached the void;
Now I am overflowing.
How lonely the man
Who does not yield to Eros,
Who closes his soul
To the madness of true love
That ones the lover with All.
How lonely the man
Who squanders divine Eros,
Spending it on sex,
Rather than letting the god
Carry his soul heavenward.
How happy the man
Whose soul has yielded to love,
But not to squander,
Knowing that by strong chaste love
The soul is flooded by God.
You have deceived me,
Eros—raw, naked Eros;
You inflamed my heart,
And then unmasked my beloved--
Christ Jesus himself enfleshed.
Eros reveals Christ
Within the beloved’s soul--
If the lover’s mind
Is searching for the true God,
Not for death-fading beauty.
Holy, fervent love,
You kindle fires in our hearts,
Flooding us with you
God ever-faithful to us
Whose love is leading us home.
O divine madness,
How you overflow the world
With magnificence,
With wonders beyond all telling,
Filling human souls with God.
Words don’t do justice
To You, God of my rebirth.
To love is to praise,
And to love is to serve You,
Transformer of all beings.
Eros sets one free
To be the man created
By divine wisdom--
By inflaming one to love
Immortalizes the soul.
Your love empowers me
To become the man I am:
Mortal-immortal--
A human dwelling for God
Longing to transform each one.
You within all yous,
Unspeakably beautiful,
Eternal goodness,
So vast, so far, and so near
Overflowing loving hearts.
You live by loving,
You love by dying to self;
Alive forever now,
You’re becoming You-in-us,
Made one in You forever.
Your love we call Christ,
The holy Spirit, the One,
Emanating out
Penetrating human souls,
Your eternal dwelling place.
You are the One in-
Between friend and friend in love.
In-between lover
And beloved You burn alive,
Making two one forever.
Good divine lover,
God enfleshed, making two one,
Self yielding to God,
Chaste erotic love drawing
God in, and lovers Godward.
An intense madness
Is Eros’ wild rampaging;
Who can discern it?
One conquers yielding to God,
Yielding to chaste love’s fervor.
Perplexed by love, I
Speak but cannot justly speak
Of you, unknown love.
You carry me from myself
Into divine ecstasy.
One in you, in me
One beyond, within, between,
One known-unknown love,
God unknown except by one
Bewildering wild-mad love.
You call me your friend,
And so I am; from within,
Love has her own ways,
Raising friends to lovers’ heights,
Soaring unexpectedly.
“What are you doing?”
Do you understand love’s ways?
A fire’s set ablaze:
Is your love burning your friend,
Or bringing goodness and peace?
What has love done, friend?
Must I now renounce Eros,
The divine madness?
To God I disclose my heart,
To do with me as He wills.
God of true, chaste love,
Keep me from wounding a heart
By arrows unsheathed.
Purify my heart and mind,
That my love will do no harm.
Here is a true test
Of whether our love is good:
Are you ennobled,
Or debased in any way?
If debased, I must depart.
Your good above mine:
Your spiritual well-being
Is ever in my mind:
That you are true to Christ now,
Living forever in God.
In God I’ve a friend--
Not a spouse, nor a lover--
A divine lover.
Our common ground’s Christ within
Utilizing yours and mine.
Friend complements friend:
Your good character grounds us;
Christ’s mind inspires us;
Fired by love’s intense longings,
Spirit draws us to the One.
How can I hymn You,
Intoxicating lover;
What words can I sing?
To You I owe everything;
To You I give everything.
—Wm. Paul McKane, OSB
10 January 2020
You’ve penetrated my soul.
One in Christ’s true love:
Gently you broke through my walls,
Chastely you joined yourself to me.
Loving you, my friend,
Has reawakened my soul;
All the world is full
Of divine wonders again
As my heart vibrates with God.
Your love releases me,
Setting blessed Eros ablaze
Within my psyche.
Now the world is transfigured,
And all the stars sing for joy.
Immortal-mortal
Eros healing me within.
How lonely I felt;
Your love over-reached the void;
Now I am overflowing.
How lonely the man
Who does not yield to Eros,
Who closes his soul
To the madness of true love
That ones the lover with All.
How lonely the man
Who squanders divine Eros,
Spending it on sex,
Rather than letting the god
Carry his soul heavenward.
How happy the man
Whose soul has yielded to love,
But not to squander,
Knowing that by strong chaste love
The soul is flooded by God.
You have deceived me,
Eros—raw, naked Eros;
You inflamed my heart,
And then unmasked my beloved--
Christ Jesus himself enfleshed.
Eros reveals Christ
Within the beloved’s soul--
If the lover’s mind
Is searching for the true God,
Not for death-fading beauty.
Holy, fervent love,
You kindle fires in our hearts,
Flooding us with you
God ever-faithful to us
Whose love is leading us home.
O divine madness,
How you overflow the world
With magnificence,
With wonders beyond all telling,
Filling human souls with God.
Words don’t do justice
To You, God of my rebirth.
To love is to praise,
And to love is to serve You,
Transformer of all beings.
Eros sets one free
To be the man created
By divine wisdom--
By inflaming one to love
Immortalizes the soul.
Your love empowers me
To become the man I am:
Mortal-immortal--
A human dwelling for God
Longing to transform each one.
You within all yous,
Unspeakably beautiful,
Eternal goodness,
So vast, so far, and so near
Overflowing loving hearts.
You live by loving,
You love by dying to self;
Alive forever now,
You’re becoming You-in-us,
Made one in You forever.
Your love we call Christ,
The holy Spirit, the One,
Emanating out
Penetrating human souls,
Your eternal dwelling place.
You are the One in-
Between friend and friend in love.
In-between lover
And beloved You burn alive,
Making two one forever.
Good divine lover,
God enfleshed, making two one,
Self yielding to God,
Chaste erotic love drawing
God in, and lovers Godward.
An intense madness
Is Eros’ wild rampaging;
Who can discern it?
One conquers yielding to God,
Yielding to chaste love’s fervor.
Perplexed by love, I
Speak but cannot justly speak
Of you, unknown love.
You carry me from myself
Into divine ecstasy.
One in you, in me
One beyond, within, between,
One known-unknown love,
God unknown except by one
Bewildering wild-mad love.
You call me your friend,
And so I am; from within,
Love has her own ways,
Raising friends to lovers’ heights,
Soaring unexpectedly.
“What are you doing?”
Do you understand love’s ways?
A fire’s set ablaze:
Is your love burning your friend,
Or bringing goodness and peace?
What has love done, friend?
Must I now renounce Eros,
The divine madness?
To God I disclose my heart,
To do with me as He wills.
God of true, chaste love,
Keep me from wounding a heart
By arrows unsheathed.
Purify my heart and mind,
That my love will do no harm.
Here is a true test
Of whether our love is good:
Are you ennobled,
Or debased in any way?
If debased, I must depart.
Your good above mine:
Your spiritual well-being
Is ever in my mind:
That you are true to Christ now,
Living forever in God.
In God I’ve a friend--
Not a spouse, nor a lover--
A divine lover.
Our common ground’s Christ within
Utilizing yours and mine.
Friend complements friend:
Your good character grounds us;
Christ’s mind inspires us;
Fired by love’s intense longings,
Spirit draws us to the One.
How can I hymn You,
Intoxicating lover;
What words can I sing?
To You I owe everything;
To You I give everything.
—Wm. Paul McKane, OSB
10 January 2020
A Morning Meditation in Verse
06 Jan 2020
Note: I had not planned to write anything this morning, but to prepare for our adult faith class meeting tomorrow night. I walked outside with the dogs, saw the moon, and what follows was written in the subsequent two hours, well before sunrise.
“Che bella luna!”
Radiant in the night sky,
Waxing, not yet full:
“Oh, how good to be alive,”
Standing with my dogs outside.
Extraction: all teeth,
Uppers and lowers, pulled out.
“You have served me well,
And now, friends, we must depart.”
Part by part my body dies.
How will death arrive
Today, in what ways? My task:
For me to accept
Death, as well as possible,
As she comes in ways she wills.
Beyond death is One,
One alone, and nothing else.
We call the One, “God.”
The deathless one, not alive
In space-time’s just calculus.
“If you love me, keep
My commandments.” Keep which ones?
If you need to ask,
Wonder which ones you ignore,
And then you’ll have your answer.
The night is coming,
When no one can work; do now
What you wish to do
Before the silver cord’s snapped
And the golden bowl’s broken.
The night is at hand,
When lovers begin to sing;
I, too, am a lover,
And so I shall sing my songs
Before my guitar strings snap.
I love you, my friend,
But I must not cling to you;
Behold, I vanish
Into the darkness beyond
The curious eyes of men.
Love and death together
Move me to write to you now;
The time is at hand
When my body will be still,
And I’m unable to write.
If I am manic,
Then why do I feel at peace,
Energized but calm,
Preparing for exodus
From all I have ever known?
I think of Nietzsche,
That old beloved friend of mine--
Such an outpouring
Of thoughts scribbled on paper
Before his mind was broken.
“Come death, sleep’s brother,”
I hear Bach’s chorale setting--
Quoting in English;
It sounds wunderbar auf Deutsch;
“Komm Tod, du Schlafes Bruder.”
No, you’re not so calm;
You are stretched out on the rack
Of this passing world;
Proved by what you keep writing,
Proved by barking at your dogs.
O divine madness,
Strange gift of the gods on high--
Divine mania,
Sparked by Platonic Eros
And nourished by Thanatos.
Strike! The iron’s hot;
Write when the words are flowing,
From sources unseen;
Later you may revise them,
Perhaps blushing red with shame.
“What are you doing?
Why are you writing tanka?
Why not speak plainly?”
"I’m writing as I’m able,
Concentrating on meaning.”
Babbling brook perhaps,
But seeking now to let flow
What I need to say
Before death silences me
As it silences us all.
Those who died still speak
In words written while alive,
In children’s children,
In love’s acts to those in need,
In minds’ fading memories.
Memories do fade,
And so do our minds in time.
Nothing is left here
In the greater scheme of things,
As everything perishes.
Be assured, sleeper,
That death is stalking you, too.
Would you ignore death?
Death is not ignoring you
But biding his time to strike.
Light of every mind,
God within as intellect,
Illuminating,
Hiding itself in bright light,
Casting shadows on the walls.
Living light of God,
That by which the mind beholds
You darkly, darkly,
In sensuous images
Revealing and beguiling.
Divine Mind shining
Into souls opened by love,
Seeking to pierce through
Stony hearts and rocky minds,
That all may delight in you.
You are the true light
Enlightening every soul;
You have come, you come,
And you will come into me,
If only I yield to you.
Pour forth, we ask you,
Your grace into human hearts,
That every being,
From the greatest to the least,
May be flooded with your love.
To feel God’s love, love!
“Give, and it will be given
To you,” even you,
Fellow creature in our world:
Love given is love enjoyed.
What can one give? Love.
It costs nothing but oneself.
Give the best you have,
And what is the best in you?
Is it not generous love?
Do I truly love you?
That’s ever a good question
Each one should ponder
Right now, today, not later--
After you finish your “work.”
“Che bella luna!”
Radiant in the night sky,
Waxing, not yet full:
“Oh, how good to be alive,”
Standing with my dogs outside.
Extraction: all teeth,
Uppers and lowers, pulled out.
“You have served me well,
And now, friends, we must depart.”
Part by part my body dies.
How will death arrive
Today, in what ways? My task:
For me to accept
Death, as well as possible,
As she comes in ways she wills.
Beyond death is One,
One alone, and nothing else.
We call the One, “God.”
The deathless one, not alive
In space-time’s just calculus.
“If you love me, keep
My commandments.” Keep which ones?
If you need to ask,
Wonder which ones you ignore,
And then you’ll have your answer.
The night is coming,
When no one can work; do now
What you wish to do
Before the silver cord’s snapped
And the golden bowl’s broken.
The night is at hand,
When lovers begin to sing;
I, too, am a lover,
And so I shall sing my songs
Before my guitar strings snap.
I love you, my friend,
But I must not cling to you;
Behold, I vanish
Into the darkness beyond
The curious eyes of men.
Love and death together
Move me to write to you now;
The time is at hand
When my body will be still,
And I’m unable to write.
If I am manic,
Then why do I feel at peace,
Energized but calm,
Preparing for exodus
From all I have ever known?
I think of Nietzsche,
That old beloved friend of mine--
Such an outpouring
Of thoughts scribbled on paper
Before his mind was broken.
“Come death, sleep’s brother,”
I hear Bach’s chorale setting--
Quoting in English;
It sounds wunderbar auf Deutsch;
“Komm Tod, du Schlafes Bruder.”
No, you’re not so calm;
You are stretched out on the rack
Of this passing world;
Proved by what you keep writing,
Proved by barking at your dogs.
O divine madness,
Strange gift of the gods on high--
Divine mania,
Sparked by Platonic Eros
And nourished by Thanatos.
Strike! The iron’s hot;
Write when the words are flowing,
From sources unseen;
Later you may revise them,
Perhaps blushing red with shame.
“What are you doing?
Why are you writing tanka?
Why not speak plainly?”
"I’m writing as I’m able,
Concentrating on meaning.”
Babbling brook perhaps,
But seeking now to let flow
What I need to say
Before death silences me
As it silences us all.
Those who died still speak
In words written while alive,
In children’s children,
In love’s acts to those in need,
In minds’ fading memories.
Memories do fade,
And so do our minds in time.
Nothing is left here
In the greater scheme of things,
As everything perishes.
Be assured, sleeper,
That death is stalking you, too.
Would you ignore death?
Death is not ignoring you
But biding his time to strike.
Light of every mind,
God within as intellect,
Illuminating,
Hiding itself in bright light,
Casting shadows on the walls.
Living light of God,
That by which the mind beholds
You darkly, darkly,
In sensuous images
Revealing and beguiling.
Divine Mind shining
Into souls opened by love,
Seeking to pierce through
Stony hearts and rocky minds,
That all may delight in you.
You are the true light
Enlightening every soul;
You have come, you come,
And you will come into me,
If only I yield to you.
Pour forth, we ask you,
Your grace into human hearts,
That every being,
From the greatest to the least,
May be flooded with your love.
To feel God’s love, love!
“Give, and it will be given
To you,” even you,
Fellow creature in our world:
Love given is love enjoyed.
What can one give? Love.
It costs nothing but oneself.
Give the best you have,
And what is the best in you?
Is it not generous love?
Do I truly love you?
That’s ever a good question
Each one should ponder
Right now, today, not later--
After you finish your “work.”