A Different Kind of Poetry Book, Part 2

     Last week I was describing the unusual book by Daniel Ladinsky, Love Poems from God.  May I share one of my favorite poems from the book?  It's from St. Catherine of Siena (freely rendered by Mr. Ladinsky):

LIVE WITHOUT THOUGHT OF DYING

We work so hard to fly

and no matter what heights we reach

our wings get folded near a candle,

at the end,

for nothing can enter God but Himself.  

Our souls are some glorious substance of the divine

that no sentry wants to stop.

Live without thought of dying,

for dying is not a truth.

We have swayed on the sky's limb together,

many years there the same leaves grow.

But then they get that look in their eyes

and bid farewell to what they disdained or cherished.

This life He gave the shell, the daily struggles we know,

sit quiet for a minute dear, feel the wind,

let Light touch you.

Live without thought of dying,

for dying is not a truth.