Blessed Are Those Who Shine In Secret

blessed are those who shine in secret

who lose the thing they wanted to say in company

and put all words away, only talking to the Lord God

so that they appear to the world stupid

and are lectured by anyone on the street

about even how to tie ones shoes properly.

blessed are they who really hear the wind

who are rapt in divine attention to the least leaf falling

till someone says move along you are stalling

blessed are you when every intention you have is

misread on purpose by those who dont want their taxes

to pay for your being fed even if they are the ones

who never kick you upstairs and who will not wait dinner for

you  who hold balls in honor of your stingy caretakers.

let them stare you will not see them.

as Yeats said you think he did

you will see the rose growing in your own heart

the Eternal Rose

blooming and blooming

and you won't tell a soul.

when they scold you for staring off into space,

for being displaced again.

mary angela douglas 11 november 2020