Prayer

Photo by LLW

I experience this as a provocative poem and wonder what your reaction is to it.

I wonder what a velvet bridge is and think about the fact that we must all cross it,velvet or not, unless we jump off (which, I for one, will not do).

What are we praying for? What are we wishing for? I will walk or run across my bridges, singing or crying. The velvet bridge is not a swinging, slippery bridge. It provides protection, comfort and softness and yet it is an aerial bridge, not a stepping stone bridge. Yes, it is still a bridge and like it or not we must walk it.

ON PRAYER -- Czeslaw Milosz

You ask me how to pray to someone who is not.
All I know is that prayer constructs a velvet bridge
And walking it we are aloft, as on a springboard,
Above landscapes the color of ripe gold
Transformed by a magic stopping of the sun.
That bridge leads to the shore of Reversal
Where everything is just the opposite and the word is
Unveils a meaning we hardly envisioned.
Notice: I say we; there, every one, separately,
Feels compassion for others entangled in the flesh
And knows that if there is no other shore
We will walk that aerial bridge all the same.

Words from Czeslaw Milosz: ON PRAYER: You ask me how to pray to someone who is not. All I know is that prayer constructs a velvet bridge and walking it we are aloft, as on a springboard, above landscapes the color of ripe gold transformed by a magic stopping of the sun. That bridge leads to the shore of Reversal where everything is just the opposite and the word unveils a meaning we hardly envisioned. Notice: I say we; there, every one, separately, feels compassion for others entangled in the flesh and knows that if there is no other shore we will walk that aerial bridge all the same.