! ! The Heart's Light Poem by Michael Shepherd

Somehow, the words of Hesychius
have reached us after more than a thousand years
and from a desert place, Mount Sinai;
where he was famed for ‘breathing Jesus’
(there’s something in me says,
that’s quieter than the pulpit..)
and thus, talked little..

but he said (and this they wrote down,
preserved, passed on, quoted, marvelled,
sought to practise; succeeded.. or ever, failed? …

‘One who watches carefully over the heart
will quickly see, how the heart
of its own nature, is emitting light’…

and I’m sad; with that sweet sadness
when you hear of a beauty that
you didn’t know existed;
wondering, if one day…
or every day.. and how long
it would take, and whether
you, or I, would ever have
the strengths, whatever they might be,
to attain that state…

and how it must have been,
when word got round, and others watched
their heart, his monastery glowed
like a family of fireflies in the dusk,
as cool, as bright, as love bestowed
without the asking..

Tomorrow, you may see me in the street,
walking a little more slowly than the usual;
rapt in a wordless thought,
discreetly glancing at the passers-by;
beyond the judging failure or success,
treasuring a sweet silver gift,
a cool, new beauty promised.