a triad of poems by nicholas samaras

Psalm as Frustration I Can Live With

I love the fierce wind outside my window

but know I would freeze in it.

I love the fierce wind from where I view it.

I love to wake and feel the presence of the Lord within.

I feel his presence only to lose it,

lose his presence only to feel it return.

I am seriousness which falls away from seriousness.

I control and lose control. I seize and lose my grasp,

don't see and glimpse again.

I ration the irrational. I dive into ecstasy

and love the Lord as long as I can bear,

as I love the fierce wind outside my window.

The Psalm of Your Face

Lord, let your face be lined.

Lord, let your hair be gray with patience.

Holy Father, let your cheeks be silver with long growth

as you put up with me and put up with me.

Lord, let your face be a blazon of parts

in which I can name you sufficient

to be seen in your unseen presence.

Lord, let your face be lined with the knowledge

of my sins. Let your brow be uncreased in forgiveness.

Lord, let your eyes be clear of lightning

and your foggy voice unbass itself of thunder.

Lord, let your face be lined

and your massive chest be peaceful in breathing,

the falling and rising that is my slow way to you.

The Psalm of Then

Then, the Lord heard me in the wilderness of my soul.

Then, the lost place of me became clear.

Then, I recognized distraction for what it is.

Then, I was freed from the desert of diversion.

Then, I was moved to the green oasis within me.

Then, the still voice of the Lord was as the depth of water.

Then, I could cease the constant music in my head.

Then, I could move beyond myself and the noise of myself.

Then, I could hear the smallness of my own voice.

Then, the still voice of the Lord was as the depth of water.

Then, the lost place of me became clear as a cascade.

Then, I could hear the bass of my name.

Then, I heard the Lord in the wilderness of my soul.

Then, stillness and stillness and stillness sang.

Samaras, Nicholas. from IMAGE, Number 59. Seattle: Centre for Religious Humanism, 2008.