Trappists, Working

Now all our saws sing holy sonnets in this world of timber 
Where oaks go off like guns, and fall like cataracts, 
Pouring their roar into the wood’s green well. 

Walk to us, Jesus, through the wall of trees, 
And find us still adorers in these airy churches, 
Singing our other Office with our saws and axes. 
Still teach Your children in the busy forest, 
And let some little sunlight reach us, in our mental shades, 
   and leafy studies.
When time has turned the country white with grain 
And filled our regions with the thrashing sun, 

Walk to us, Jesus, through the walls of wheat 
When our two tractors come to cut them down: 
Sow some light winds upon the acres of our spirit, 
And cool the regions where our prayers are reapers, 
And slake us, Heaven, with Your living rivers.
                                                                            (1946)

--Thomas Merton (1915-1968) OCSO, American Trappist monk, priest, essayist, memoirist, and poet, from In the Dark Before Dawn: New Selected Poems, 2005. His feast day is today.