The Whole Song

"We must learn to respond not to this or that syllable, but to the whole song." 
Thomas Merton

You say

"be not afraid,"

yet this darkness is

complete.

A well of silence lies 

beneath my feet 

as I try to feel

my way back to you.

How can I be brave

when all around me rush

rivers of anguish, tears

overflowing life’s banks?

Terror fills the sky.

In dark flashes

my sight declines,

and endless night

encroaches the edge

of vision.

Will you lift me

if I stumble 

and fall?

Oh, call softly

and with seeing

fingers I'll find 

your healing 

hands again.

(2013, 2017)