A White Dove Heading East
A sailor lost for days at sea
in a boat all alone
spots a white dove heading east
at dawn,
and for a moment her sight
becomes his.
Things like that can happen;
your soul can enter another
- that fully.
Land, land! He cried within,
and then even tasted the Earth in a way
for a blessed second,
and so felt saved.
I love the imagery of this poem, that we can be saved just by envisioning another's soul. Do you think any of the great poets or artists ever imagined themselves as the souls of their superiors? Or of God himself? It certainly is fascinating to contemplate just how "complete" the inner-life can become.
Mary and Gibran discussed such a thing in his January 6, 1916 letter: "I have been thinking of writing, of giving forms, to the one thought that changed my inner-life - God and the Earth and the soul of man. A voice is shaping itself in my soul and I am waiting for words. My one desire now is to find the right form, the right garment that would cling to human ears. The world is hungry, Mary; and if this thing is bread it will find a place in the heart of the world, and if it is not bread, it will at least make the hunger of the world deeper and higher. It is beautiful to speak of God to man. We cannot fully understand the nature of God because we are not God, but we can make ready our consciousness to understand, and grow through, the visible expressions of God."
A sailor lost for days at sea
in a boat all alone
spots a white dove heading east
at dawn,
and for a moment her sight
becomes his.
Things like that can happen;
your soul can enter another
- that fully.
Land, land! He cried within,
and then even tasted the Earth in a way
for a blessed second,
and so felt saved.
I love the imagery of this poem, that we can be saved just by envisioning another's soul. Do you think any of the great poets or artists ever imagined themselves as the souls of their superiors? Or of God himself? It certainly is fascinating to contemplate just how "complete" the inner-life can become.
Mary and Gibran discussed such a thing in his January 6, 1916 letter: "I have been thinking of writing, of giving forms, to the one thought that changed my inner-life - God and the Earth and the soul of man. A voice is shaping itself in my soul and I am waiting for words. My one desire now is to find the right form, the right garment that would cling to human ears. The world is hungry, Mary; and if this thing is bread it will find a place in the heart of the world, and if it is not bread, it will at least make the hunger of the world deeper and higher. It is beautiful to speak of God to man. We cannot fully understand the nature of God because we are not God, but we can make ready our consciousness to understand, and grow through, the visible expressions of God."
Dove released after a wedding ceremony
Wrightsville Beach, June 14, 2013
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