Monasteries of the Heart

Old Monk's Journal: Journal Entry 241

Here is the poem for Tuesday, April 13. To celebrate National Poetry Month, I am posting a short poem, a question and prompt every other day during the month. Mostly they will be poems by my daily companions, the ancient Japanese and Chinese poets. I will do the prompt myself, either in prose or poetry, and invite you to join.

The mare’s vigilance:
watchful while her foal drinks
deeply from the spring
--Issa

Do you like this poem? Why or why not? How does it make you feel?
Prompt: Imitate Issa’s first line by naming another vigilant part of creation:

The moon’s vigilance
The morning star’s vigilance
The mother’s vigilance:
The blue heron’s vigilance…etc.

The monk’s vigilance:
watchful in the monastery chapel
only a full moon
and a flickering candle
for company
--Old Monk

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A blog by Mary Lou Kownacki
A personal journal captures what’s in the heart. Most of my adult life I’ve recorded my notes, brief reflections, poems, reactions to daily events in a journal. It is an ongoing source of monastic formation; the rich and raw material of life that helps shape my Monastery of the Heart. About a year ago, Old Monk began to appear on my journal’s pages. Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB, is the Monasteries of the Heart coordinator.

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