I was speaking with a friend yesterday and I mentioned that Daniel Ladinsky's book, Love Poems from God included poems attributed to St. Francis. I expressed my surprise, saying I did not think of St. Francis as a poet. She reminded me of his singing to Brother Sun and Sister Moon and other canticles.
The poems are lovely, and I am finding them humbling. Like good conversations, dreams, and prayers, poems can open the doors to our soul. There God is.
NO ONE KNOWS HIS NAME
No one
knows his name -
a man who lives on the streets
and walks around in rags.
Once I saw that man in a dream.
He and God were constructing
an extraordinary
temple.
The poet Rabia suggested that everyone should have a secret name for God. I have long wrestled with how to address God, particularly when I am preaching and praying in public. Yet, the idea of a private name stayed with me, and this morning I woke with that name in my heart. I am grateful. Yes, it is a name that has been with me all along. I just never heard it calling.
photograph: San Leandro, February 2021
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