The great monk Thomas
Merton fell deeply in love.
He had emptied him-
self in solitude
for years. The void to be filled
by this woman’s love
was bottomless. What
could go wrong? Love’s pleasure is
a revelation.
For Merton—-scholar,
poet, guru of Zen and
prayer—-the passion
of being in love
added new senses: the salt
taste of the loved one,
the dampness scorned by
the Ancients in favor of
aether, surprised, con-
fused him. The words
from her vagina’s soft lips
untranslatable.
Of course it was sin.
He laid it by for despair,
pleasure’s true other.
Pleasure, considered
as a mystery, deserves
life-long attention.
Metaxyturn Diaries 