St. Francis... "Astonished"

​Bernard came by one day and asked me why,
"Why did you leave? Why did you leave everything?"
I could see the need to know deep in his eyes.
But I also knew that my wedding to the moon,
my Lady, Sweet Poverty, was mystery within mystery.
I stared in silence at the ground,
and then at the sky. Brother Sun
was filling my mind with Light!
Words, useless words...
then I remembered the Poet.
And the thought before thought,
the imagination that gave birth
to Beauty, to Radiance, and to Kindness...
"Come with me, dear Bernard!
I will show you the Face of God!
Come and know for yourself!"
I took off running down the road!
I could hear Bernard struggling
for breath behind me.
Let him struggle now,
for I was going to squeeze
every bit of breath from him --
he'd wish that he'd died somewhere on the road!
And so we ran and ran. Finally,
I stopped, and knelt in the middle of the road.
Lifting my arms, I prayed,
"Oh dear Mother Earth,
take me to your bosom.
Feed me with the holy milk of Your Spirit!"
I took Bernard by the hand.
He would not escape the coming terror!
We splattered across the creek
and turned down a darkened path
that opened upon a hillside cave
and wide pool of glistening water.
There on the shore were the holy angels of God,
each one a perfect reflection of Perfect Beauty.
I approached two of whom
I called my mother and father.
Their leprosy was very advanced.
Both were blind, only stumps bore witness
to what once had been feet and hands.
They cooed softly when they heard my voice.
I sat between them, placing their heads on my lap.
I caressed their faces as if they were my lovers.
I sang, "Come sister wind, breath of our breath,
and sweet touch of our Mother's breast...
Come sister wind, breath of our breath,
and sweet touch of our Mother's breast...
Come and kiss us with your Love"... over and over,
until the entire band of lepers had gathered around me.
Those who could, sang with me.
Then when all were relieved of their pain,
I held each precious face in my hands,
and kissed them. I kissed their eyes,
I kissed their cheeks,
and I kissed their rotting, beautiful lips.
They would know,
at least once in their lives, perfect love...
Bernard, all the while, sat off by himself
staring at the horrible beatific scene
unfolding before him.
He was shuddering and weeping uncontrollably.
Good! I thought, good!
He is giving birth to himself!
I had never witnessed
such a holy and precious sight!
I approached him with caution --
I did not want to disturb the workings of grace.
He took my hands into his.
He kissed them over and over,
just as I had kissed my brothers and sisters.
Finally, broken through and through,
he whimpered, "Thank you, my dearest brother!
Will you let me join with you
in love and service?
Will you let me touch
and kiss the Face of God, too?"
Without answering,
I took off running down the road again.
I could hear Brother Bernard calling me,
"Do you always run, brother?"
I was shouting to my bride, the moon,
"We have our first son! We have our first son!"
I could hear Brother Bernard falling
over rocks and branches trying to keep up.
What of me?
I was flying!
Where were our other children?

​Lovers work, so that when body and soul are no longer together, their loving will be free. 
-- Rumi

​Love is the vital core of the soul, and all you see, only love is infinite. -- Rumi

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