This Week’s Quotation:
Love, in all its glory,
reveals itself to the
tranquil mind
and thankful heart.So draw near to the majesty,
Becoming a Sun, p. 38
embrace the peace within you,
and so be embraced by love itself,
which is in your every breath.
Love, in All Its Glory
Author, Becoming a Sun
When I first began to write my book, it didn’t include any poetry. I’d been writing poetry and song lyrics since I was seventeen. But I got 50 pages into my book without any of it. And it didn’t work. I knew that my reader wouldn’t understand what I was trying to say on a purely intellectual basis. So I scrapped everything I’d written so far and started over.
Just recently, I’ve come to an even more vivid understanding that poetry, in the broadest sense of the word, is the only way to understand a human life. Indeed, our whole life is poetry. Or if not, it is bland and pallid. It turns to dust.
Everything we experience has not only immediate practical relevance but also a larger meaning and significance. A tree is not just a tree. It is the essence of treehood. A flower is not just a flower. It is a reminder of the beauty, the loveliness, even the sexiness of life.
Living a poetic life, the form of the world around us turns transparent. It shines with a transcendent loveliness.
My poem uses the word love. When the original authors and translators sought to write the text of the New Testament, they used a word from Aramaic—khuba. The root of the word is “to set on fire” or “to warm.” In Greek, translators used two words that described the love between people to name something else—agape and philia. And when William Tyndale published his early English translation of the New Testament in 1534, he used the word love to translate these words into English, a revolutionary act for which the Holy Roman Empire put him to death.
I imagine William Tyndale searching his heart and soul to find just the right way to interpret Jesus’ message for his country. And he turned to the poetry of the word love.
I invite you to read the words from my poem again. Feel it with your heart and let yourself be embraced by the poetry of a higher love.
What does it mean to become a sun?
Every human being is already a sun on the inside—a being of intense love and light. The difference is that some people have the vision and courage to become a sun on the outside. This difference is our human destiny.
3 Responses
How beautiful, David! So happy that you included poetry in your book. It brings pure magic!
And the word translated into “love” in the KJV of the Bible accurately describes Jesus’ sentiment for me.
How blessed we are to have that record of those days thousands of years ago!
Thank you, David. I just read your poem again, as if for the first time. That is how I try to approach everything that comes my way. Each day is a new day, and all things are made new in my experience regardless of countless repetitions. Your poetry, as well as your prose certainly and consistently facilitate that process of renewal.
Dear David – as you know – I love poetry – your decision to include it in your book is a blessing to all…..