I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Abbey Program Coordinator Melinda Thomas’s reflection and poem Synonym.
It is my great privilege to serve the Abbey as Program Coordinator and get to know all of you, our dear, dancing monks. One of our guiding principles is a commitment to community. As an introvert and someone who often finds it difficult to reach out, I value the wisdom of how there are different ways to be in community. Whether we gather online or in person, in groups of 2 or groups of 20, when we meet with intention and hospitality, we are in community. Another guiding principle for me is seeking out beauty as a revelation of the Divine. You remind me of this daily in our Facebook group, programs, guest posts, and emails. Thank you!
The poem I offer to you today was originally published on my Substack, The Journal of Elements and Seasons. It was written in October 2024, just after Helene devastated parts of my beloved Western North Carolina, and a month before the 2024 election in the US. Writing the piece spoke to me of the immense importance of beauty and community that is essential for this moment. It’s called Synonym.
Synonym
In the early morning a heron
stalks through the marsh. The
fog is a dense mystery whispering
an incantation, tattooing itself on my bones.
It was only a glimpse; a scene
between colonial houses
we passed on the way to school.
Like the heron I stalk this moment
when the sublime pierced my heart with beauty;
a synonym for Divine.
A cranberry bog and a haunted
forest on the opposite shore lit with a
rapture of moon and stars shimmering their
way into the space between my cells.
It was only a glimpse; a scene
we passed on the way to a Christmas fair;
a scene I have tried and failed to paint a hundred times;
another synonym for Divine.
Beauty makes it easy to believe in a God
with a creative heart that must also be
the origin of love. But when the floodwaters
rise and children are handed guns, forced
to flee a thousand times and pray for death
because there is no food, and mothers
have eyes vacant with the nearness of
apocalypse, I wonder, Where is the heron?
Where is the rapture of moonlight?
A teenager on the radio speaks of their orchestra of refugees
because art is necessary for the human heart. Community;
a synonym for Divine.
Melinda Thomas, E-RYT 500 is the Program Coordinator for Abbey of the Arts providing program and logistical support, forum facilitation, and yoga. She also offer prayers and other content contributions to the Prayer Cycles and retreats. Melinda is an experienced yoga teacher and has been studying and practicing yoga for more than twenty-five years. In each of her classes and workshops Melinda weaves spiritual and contemplative themes into accessible, alignment based movement practice. Her aim is to honor the spiritual foundation of yoga in conversation with monastic and contemplative wisdom that offers participants a safe, inclusive, and integrated experience. Melinda is a writer and the author of Sacred Balance: Aligning Body and Spirit Through Yoga and the Benedictine Way. She lives in North Carolina with her son and their cat. She writes The Journal of Elements and Seasons on Substack. Visit her website.
