To die, like glass, by light (Thomas Merton)

The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared to a Window

Because my will is as simple as a window

And knows no pride of original birth,

It is my life to die, like glass, by light:

Slain in the strong rays of the bridegroom sun. 

Because my love is simple as a window

And knows no shame of original dust,

I longed all night (when I was visible) for dawn, my death,

When I would marry day, my Holy Spirit:

And die by transsubstantiation into light. 

For light, my lover, steals my life in secret.

I vanish into day, and leave no shadow

But the geometry of my cross,

Whose frame and structure are the strength

By which I die, but only to the earth

And am uplifted ot the sky my life.

When I became the substance of my lover

(Being obedient, sinless glass)

I love all things that need my lover’s life,

And live to give my newborn Morning to your quiet room,

--Your rooms that would be tombs,

Or vaults of night, and death, and terror,

Fill with clarity of living Heaven,

Shine with the rays of God’s Jerusalem:

O shine, bright Sions!

Because I die by brightness and the Holy Spirit,

The sun rejoices in your jail, my kneeling Christian

(Where even now you weep and grin

To learn, from my simplicity, the strength of faith).

Therefore do not be troubled at the judgements of the thunder,

Stay still and pray, stay still, my other son,

And do not fear the armies and black ramparts

Of the advancing and retreating rains:

I’ll let no lightening kill your room’s white order.

Although it is the day’s last hour,

Look with no fear:

For the torn storm lets in, at the world’s rim,

Three streaming rays as straight as Jacob’s ladder:

And you shall see the sun, my Son, my Substance,

Come to convince the world of the day’s end, and of the night,

Smile to the lovers of the day in smiles of blood;

For though my love, He’ll be their Brother,

My light – the Lamb of their Apocalypse.

--Thomas Merton

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