GOD, I WISH I WAS AN IGNORANT LUMP OF MEAT
God, I wish I was an ignorant lump of meat,
To mix unthinking with unthinking sheep,
To never stray beyond the tired flocks' tiresome bleat,
To live my life in shackled sleep.
I wish I too had never seen
The flickers round the shadows' dreams,
And walked instead a narrow road
And sharing shared a lumpen load.
And would that I could still my mind
And leave all doubts and fears behind
And never have to chase my soul -
For nothing, nothing, held a goal.
But should I wish to raise my eyes
And dally, p’raps, in quiet surprise -
I wish that I could baffled see
No hint nor hope of destiny.
For there I’d find a happy day
And willing, willing, beg to stay :
For silence is a blessed thing
That does not break the tumbling wing.
This is a poem about a yearning for spiritual change and how much easier it would be not to think, and just to be one of the group.
When it comes to spiritual striving, nobody beats Gerard Manley Hopkins, and here's his beautiful The Windhover.
And just for the heck of it here's another of my favourite poets, Dylan Thomas, and his Poem in October.
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