736 preempt any future evil by bringing every hidden edge into the light

Day 736: Tuesday, March 22, 2022

preempt any future evil by bringing

every hidden edge into the light, by bringing

our inner troubles into the conversation

“There is no Table Long Enough,” by David Whyte

One man’s unspoken inner edge of darkness

un-confronted and un-transformed

sitting far away in his own fear,

like someone looking through

the wrong end of a child’s telescope,

like someone sitting at the end

of an absurdly lengthened table:

holds his intimate circle in fear of death

and torture, threatens their families,

poisons their lives along with his enemies,

sews everyone into the straight jacket

of immobile fear, then carefully tailors

a uniform of death for every single one

of his bullied young men to wear.

May we see then, in this allegory,

as we too, in this time, sit so far away,

the simple way an individual life

no matter how imprisoned,

transformed by generosity, saves

so many lives in the future.

May we take the time, while we confront

this fear now, on the outside

with necessary and courageous physical action,

to preempt any future evil by bringing

every hidden edge into the light, by bringing

our inner troubles into the conversation,

where heads are allowed to lean close

to one another at a table shortened

to the point of mutual understanding.

There is no table long enough

to keep us from our own unspoken darkness

but, thanks be to God, and every power

beyond us, there is no table long enough

to hold the riches of darkness transformed,

to hold the wine raised and the bread

consumed, to hold every item of our shared bounty,

brought from every field of our endeavour,

in a promised future, that despite ourselves,

will always be destined to forgiveness.