Wisdom Comes So Slowly

why is it that wisdom
comes so slowly

teach me Lord to ask
the questions of compassion
as you did Parsifal

who served the grail
who healed a king

who walked the
"pathless path"
long before i was born

like Parsifal
let me too
meet the Fisher King

turn my thoughts
towards waiting
towards patience
towards healing

as i wait
in the darkness
which is not darkness
only a veil of shadows

as i too wander
on a path
in a forest
which is only illusion

for that one moment of clarity
in which we begin
to see that our

self inflicted pain
is the next step
towards a wise mind
a world of wonder

and a couragous heart
which is open and free
to love the mystery

reflecting from us all
created as we are
as images

arising out of the
stillness and
the silence

and the emptiness
where wisdom rests
waiting for
wakefulness

waiting to serve
the Fisher King
answering the questions
of compassion
let me become such a brightness, where

"the night is as bright as the day"


Ron Starbuck

Copyright 2009


The Book of Common Prayer, Daily Evening Prayer Rite One

If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night," darkness is not dark to thee, O Lord; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to thee are both alike. Psalm 139:10,11

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12