Retreat to Natrun

 

Along a gravel road into the desert

wavering dunes cast over vast tracts of land

covered by endless shifting sand

 

Up to where sit the modest hermitages

on the precipices of the wadi's edges

 

In seclusion, no illusion and no intrusion

a solitary life without any confusion

 

A foresaken place more silent than the grave

from where only the occasional bedouin does wave

 

A canopy of stars at night form the vault of heaven

and the only food to eat is bread unleaven

 

A bare spartan cell where poverty dwells there

where day and night do not compare

 

No conversation or fellowship to enjoy

only meditation and prayer to employ

 

Sounds only of a wandering wind never ceasing

reaches to the soul's need of inner cleansing

 

Waiting patiently for he who comes to dwell

so that without clamour his voice one can tell

 

Bread and little else to sustain the frame

as we wait for food from his holy name

 

Little to read save a prayer or more

are kept in this meagre holy store

 

The dark comes with the arrival of night

no vision save only an inner light

 

Days fuse into the four seasons

they cease to have any significance or little reason

 

Then at no appointed time there comes a still small voice of calm

the arrival of that celestial balm

 

Which makes its home in one's personal desolation

to restore the soul through divine recuperation

 

No sound or word is ever uttered to disturb the place

yet a message is imparted from the divine grace

 

Gratefully received and thanks duly given

the visitor leaves who was not even bidden

 

Reflection, meditation and contemplation too

are the signs that awaken in us all that is new

 

Then refreshed, replenished and filled with inner peace and joy

we continue as before his wisdom to explore

 

The demons come to torment at night

but are absent from our daily sight

 

Wisdom comes with the morning dew

as droplets of insights appear as new

 

Past struggles with the lure of evil come to nought

casting off salacious desires and sensual thought

 

To seek the divine presence and consolation

become the prime earthly occupation

 

Alone with the soul laid bare

with a stone floor and four walls to stare

 

Do we live in reverend anticipation

of our eternal exultation