Koheleth and John

Koheleth

It was light among the drifts
of snow.
I could hear the blowing,
a tedious blowing,
an endless round.

John

When the wind stopped,
the night was clear and cold.
And the stars proclaimed light
in the hard, black sky
barely seen above the mist.

Koheleth

Why did the wind come?
Where did it go?
I wanted to follow it,
but that would have been futile.
Who can grasp the wind?

John

We cannot know why it comes
or where it goes.
It is a dark saying
breathed out by
an inexplicable presense.

Koheleth

We cannot know the meaning
of the things that happen
on the earth.
We can catalog them.
We can describe them.

John

You tire of seeing.
You tire of hearing.
You find the wind
a tedious murmuring,
but does its mystery touch you?

Koheleth

I rise up in the morning.
I lay down at night.
I find peace in the moment,
in loving for a moment,
in working for a moment.

John

All earthly things pass.
All our work and desires pass.
I looked for some permanence,
some word spoken,
some word called out mysteriously.

Koheleth

I have heard men proclaim
their private visions.
I have seen men
massing together to listen,
no visions of their own.

John

I felt an irresistible calling,
a mysterious moving
as my breath quietly
merged with wind, with air,
with dark motions of atmosphere.

Koheleth

Who knows when my
breath began?
Who knows when it
will end?
My breath evaporates in the cold air.

John

A great love wells up in me.
A great wonder fills me.
The wind has become a man.
When he touches me
my body trembles with joy.

Koheleth

Men multiply words.
It is a great burden.
There is no end to them.
How often those words have hardened
into weapons of war.

John

All the words cannot be spoken.
An infinite number cannot contain it.
A few words suffice.
If a man strives to follow,
these words will guide him.

Koheleth

I have sought wisdom.
I want to know what to do.
Laws and precepts have come down to me.
I will follow them.
It is all that I can do.

John

When in solitude and quiet
I listen and watch
a deep wounding afflicts me.
An old self dies.
A great love is growing.

Koheleth

What a burden has
been laid upon man.
The suffering of his days agonize him.
There is madness in his heart while he lives,
and afterwards he goes to join the dead.

John

It is not clear what we
will become.
But we will become like him
because we will see him
as he is.

Koheleth

There is a great gulf between us.
We both stand on the edge of the abyss.
We both look into the void.
I see darkness.
You see light.

John

It is a small step,
to listen for a moment to the calling,
to trust for a moment,
to let go for a moment,
to be caught up to ride on the wind.