Eighth Meditation

(Interior Castle, book VI: chapter 1)

"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabach-thani?' that is, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'" (1)


The Sixth Rooms

In the sixth rooms, the Maiden flies
Upon the Breeze where'er she goes;
Talk of her beauteous wings decries
Her humble ways -- His beauty shows.

If, carelessly, she folds her wings,
The faithful Breeze would soon rescind
His lift -- the downward spiral stings
Fidelity of wing to Wind.

She hits the ground - her wings injured;
Maiden's a wreck in her weakness.
This Breeze-less night must be endured,
To purify her in meekness.

All night, she holds her crumpled wings;
Abandoned in her sufferings.


May the Lord grant us the grace of patient endurance, so that we may endure the dark night of the soul.

(1) Matthew 27:45-46


(c) Paul Buis, 2002