"Someone who could show us the way would be a true hero! As Christians, we know who that hero is."
We know who he is, but we may not know where he is. So, I offer these stanzas of a poet's thought on the matter.
A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ
Where have you fled and vanished,
Beloved, since you left me here to moan?
Deer-like you leaped; then, banished
and wounded by my own
I followed you with cries, but you have flown.
Shepherds, if you discover,
going about this knoll to tend your sheep,
the dwelling of that lover
whose memory I keep,
tell him I sicken unto death and weep.
To seek him, I shall scour
these trackless woods to where the rivers flow –
not stop to pick a flower,
not run from beasts – but go
past every fort and border that I know.
O forests darkly glooming,
seeded by my beloved’s very hand!
O pasture richly blooming,
you flower-jeweled band!
I beg you, say if he has crossed your land.
These are just the opening stanzas in a thirty plus stanza poem. The poet is St. John of the Cross. The poem is translated from the Spanish by Rhina P. Espaillat. I think it captures the spirit of the seeker who is trying to counter "the spirit of the age".
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