Compline

I want to live in that village
where the sunset is like wine
in a golden chalice,
where Francis, Chaitanya,
Rabia, Lal Dev,
Sappho, Han Sh'an,
Jesus and his paramour,
those who drink to remember
and not to forget,
all meet after dark
at one table
in a mist of violins,
at a supper of poems
that heal us by
an invitation
to enter our wounds.
Pilgrim, have you been there?
Have you listened to
the silence that was in the bell
before it rang?
You know you have
when your beauty awakens
while others go
to sleep.


Photo from Assisi by Ingrid Henzler