Reverence

Religion and poetry have a kinship, but they are not one and the same.  Poetry goes beyond facts to meanings; it sees the world, not as something to be measured and analyzed, but as something to which one’s whole being must respond.  Poetry gives us a glimpse of what the world must be like under the outer husks.  And what the poet sees under the  husk causes her (and those who read her words) to burst forth in song.

We cannot live by bread alone and we cannot live by poetry alone.  Something more is needed.  We go about our practical tasks in our day-to-day living, but these tasks are never sufficient for us.  We bake and eat our bread, but it is not enough to nourish our depths and carry us forward.  We speak  and write our words to explain and to rationalize this world in which we live, but our words do not satisfy the inner longings within us.  History shows us that bread alone will not suffice, nor will mere poetry answer these deepest needs.  History also tells of how men and women in all ages have broken forth with praise, prayer, and song which bakes no bread nor produces poetic verse.

These men and women burst forth into praise, prayer, and song because they are filled with awe.  They have seen beneath the outer husks.  They have found there that to which they must respond with all that they are. They really believe that they have been in the very presence of the Maker and Sustainer of all that is.  Having glimpsed this world beneath the husks and felt that Presence, their whole life is lifted to a plane of reverence so exalted that all ground becomes holy ground.

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park