by Winifred Rawlins
Folded within the valleys of our world
There are safe warm dwellings guarded by fires
Kindled in long-ago ages and steadfastly tended
By faithful ones, where the spring storms
Howl on the mountain tops and harmlessly pass by.
These are the shelters of the content, the valley men,
Those who are warmed by the sun’s heat in the daytime
And by the ritual flames at night.
Ah, but out there, up there, beyond the bird’s soaring,
There are cold empty places between the worlds,
Where the particles which rush in the darkness
Have no names, have never been called by man
Into his kingdom of the known and the treasured.
If there are winds they rush without sound or compass,
If there is order it has not found a voice.
You came to us like a smoldering torch
Lit at some altar of a faith yet to come;
All the currents of air from the outer silences
Swirled in your silken garments; your words were charged
With a message beyond words;
neither your tongue nor ours
Had enough of soul-stuff to serve you, only tears
Could lighten the burden of meaning
you strove to bring us.
Ham Sok-Hon (1901-1989 — also spelled as Ham Seok-Heon) was a Korean Quaker, twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by American Friends. His commitment to non-violence earned him the name, “the Gandhi of Korea.”
I am a man who has been ‘kicked’ by God, just as a boy kicks a ball in the direction he wants it to go. I have been driven and led by Him.
Biography on Quaker in the World and on Wikipedia.
from Dreaming Is Now, published by Golden Quill Press.
(c) 1963, All right reserved.