One Sparrow

Psalm 102

I am like a great owl in the desert,
I’ve become like an owl in the ruins.
I lie awake and become
like a bird alone on the roof.

Tao te Ching -Twenty

Give up learning and put an end to your troubles.

Is there a difference between yes and no?

Is there a difference between good and evil?

Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!

…..

(But) I alone am drifting, not knowing where I am.

Like a newborn babe before it learns to smile,

I am alone, without a place to go.

…..

Oh, I drift like the waves of the sea,

Without direction, like the restless wind.

Hafiz – Effacement

Effacement

Is a golden gun.

It was not easy to hold it against my head

And fire.

I needed great faith in my master

To suffocate myself

With his holy bag

Full of truth.

I needed great courage

To go out into the dark

Tracking God into the unknown.

And not panic or get lost

In all the startling new scents, sounds,

Sights,

Or lose my temper

Tripping on those scheming

Night and day around me.

Hafiz,

Effacement is the emerald dagger

You need to plunge

Deep into yourself upon

This path to divine

Recovery—

Upon this path

To God.

**

“Alone”-“Drifting”-“Tracking God into the Unknown”— Such evocative words!

Solitary—

I

Am

Called

A Solitary.

I live and move and have my being

In the empty places.

Purposeless;

Off the beaten track.

Isolated;

Outlying; barren; silent.

Obscure;

Far-flung; wide-ranging; immense.

Unreachable;

Way off in the hinterland;

I inhabit

A pathless territory.

I

Am

One

Sparrow

Perched on a black stump.