GOD ONLY KNOWS

Right off the bat
Thomas Merton writes
In his Asian Journal
‘Why do we travel?’

His journal consists
Of thoughts, quotes and
Observations as he flees
From West to East.

After twenty-seven years
Immured in a Trappist
Monastery in Kentucky
He is permitted to leave for Asia.

Already steeped in
Buddhist spirituality
He is intent on visiting
The Dalai Lama in Dharamsala

But he finds a greater kinship
With Sonam Kazia
A Tibetan Magician
Who vouchsafes…

“The Highest of Vows is made
When there is no longer anything
To be accomplished
Nothing is vowed: No one vows it”.

Merton sought an alignment of
The Buddhist notion of Sunyata
With the Christian Kenotic
Tradition of self-emptying.

He understood
That it was the Tibetan Magician
Who could lead him further into
This realm of Christian mysticism…

In Bangkok, as he journeys on
From the Subcontinent
He is electrocuted in a hotel room
While preparing to hold a Mass.

As an eloquent and esteemed
Opponent of the Vietnam War
Many in the State Department
Considered him a threat.

It is Bangkok in 1968: the CIA
As ubiquitous as Holy men in Tibet.
Each operative a rogue
Operation waiting to happen.

Is he confronted with
A very Western tradition
Of nihilism: Assassination
As political sacrament?

Only God Knows.