NOT TO SURRENDER DON’T GIVE ME THE WHOLE TRUTH
Reading poetry is one of the ways some of us nourish our faith, a way we set or reset our inner compass and stay focused on the big picture, on the spiritual journey. I know that is true for me. In this monthly column, ‘Setting the Inner Compass,’ I share some of the poems I find nourishing to the soul.
I’ve been away from this column for a couple of months. It’s been a busy season with some writing, preaching and summer music/hiking/baseball fun with my partner. My role on the Presbyterian Church USA national committee of the Self Development of People (SDOP) committee has also demanded some time. I chair the West Task force. It’s a great team that reviews applications for funding and visits those we think meet our criteria. After those visits, we vote on funding. One project was particularly moving: Mothers Organized For Peace and Healing. On our site visit we spent an afternoon in a small church hall in Los Angeles listening to mothers share their stories about the children they lost to gun violence. It was a sacred and powerful time. We heard about the way each child’s life was lost, we talked about the journey of grief, about loss and then prayed together. They sought to fund a collective for support, counseling and to work for change. Our team felt privileged to vote in support of this effort. Presbyterian friends, your offerings to SDOP provide opportunities to help people like these women who are trying to be there for others and make a difference.
The two poems for this month come from poets that are somewhat obscure and from very different places in the world. I am reminded of the grace and beauty one can stumble upon when you look beyond the borders of what is familiar.
The first poet, Nâzım Hikmet, is one of Turkey’s most celebrated poets. I discovered this poem in a one volume collection ESSENTIAL POEMS From The Staying Alive Trilogy published in the UK. It is wonderful. Nâzım Hikmet (1902-1963) served thirteen years of a 28-year-sentence as a political prisoner, accused of inciting Turkish armed forces to revolt because military cadets had been reading his poems. The poem I selected, “It’s This Way,” was written from the prison infirmary[1]. I am moved by the hope and strength of the poet in the most dire of circumstances and the healing power, even in prison of nature: green trees, sunny road through the mulberries and blooming carnations. If he can find strength in creation in his harsh reality, I am encouraged and reminded to remember the beauty of creation as I live through challenges in this difficult political season in a far more comfortable set of personal circumstances.
The second poem “DON’T GIVE ME THE WHOLE TRUTH” is by the Norwegian poet Olav H Hauge. His poems remind me of one of my favorites the New Jersey poet/doctor William Carlos Williams, who was born on the day I wrote this in 1883. The poem reminds us that sometimes we may not have it all but what we have is enough.
Unlike plenty of poems that are desperate for truth, Hauge – a little world-wearier, perhaps, a little wiser – asks for something short of revelation. He just needs satisfaction, not excess, happiness, not ecstasy. Not the ocean, but that grain of wind-borne salt.
Something to remember in both poems.
Peace,
Dave
THE POEMS
“It’s This Way” by Nâzım Hikmet
I stand in the advancing light,
my hands hungry, the world beautiful.
My eyes can’t get enough of the trees–
they’re so hopeful, so green.
A sunny road runs through the mulberries,
I’m at the window of the prison infirmary.
I can’t smell the medicines–
carnations must be blooming nearby.
It’s this way:
being captured is beside the point,
the point is not to surrender.
“DON’T GIVE ME THE WHOLE TRUTH” by Olav Hauge
Don’t give me the whole truth,
don’t give me the sea for my thirst,
don’t give me the sky when I ask for light,
but give me a glint, a dewy wisp, a mote
as the birds bear water-drops from their bathing
and the wind a grain of salt.”
CREDITS
It’s This Way by Nâzım Hikmet is from Poems of Nâzım Hikmet, tr by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Kanuk. (Persea Books, NYC, 2002).
DON’T GIVE ME THE WHOLE TRUTH by Olav Hauge from Don’t Give Me The Whole Truth: Selected Poems by Olav H Hauge ( Anvil Press Poetry Ltd, London, 1985)
[1] From Notes on the Poets and Poems in ESSENTIAL POEMS edited by Neil Astley ( Bloodaxe Books 2012).
Rev. Dave Brown is a poet, writer, and creator/host of Blues Vespers now entering its 26th season. He will publish his second poetry collection, New and Selected Poems, later this year. Dave is chair of the West Task Force of the PCUSA National Self Development of People Committee.
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