As far from men, as near <br />to God, as they could achieve, living <br />where the desert met the mountains; <br /> <br />their sustenance <br />beyond our supermart imaginings, <br />alone or with a few devoted <br />kindred spirits, they lived a life <br />of hard work, ascesis, prayer – <br /> <br />with all the urban wit of the best <br />gentlemen’s clubs, all the perception <br />of consultant psychiatrists: <br />observing in themselves in solitude <br />all the ills of man, before, then, since: <br /> <br />‘We have rejected the light burden <br />of condemning ourselves, and <br />we have chosen the heavy burden <br />of justifying ourselves, and condemning others…’ <br /> <br />touché, Abba John! <br /> <br />They, a little lower than the angels, <br />between the desert and the mountains, <br />between the hard place and the rock, <br />between human tragedy and <br />the divine comedy; <br /> <br />on their face, <br />above rough cloth, rough hands, <br />humility; bright eyes; compassion’s smile.<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-desert-fathers/
