Hymn for the Feast of Duns Scotus
by THOMAS MERTON
ON a clay in fall, when high winds trouble the country
I visit the borders of my world, and see the colored hills.
And while I walk upon their coasts
The woods and grasses tumble like a sea:
Their waters run after the dry shores
Of the path made for my feet.
And I open the book of Duns Scotus,
To learn the reason for theology.
I visit the borders of my world, and see the colored hills.
And while I walk upon their coasts
The woods and grasses tumble like a sea:
Their waters run after the dry shores
Of the path made for my feet.
And I open the book of Duns Scotus,
To learn the reason for theology.
This is the book whose vision is not its own end.
Whose words are the ways of love, whose term is Trinity:
Three Who is One Who is Love.
Whose words are the ways of love, whose term is Trinity:
Three Who is One Who is Love.
One, because One is the reason for loving
And the One Love loved. But Three
Are the Three Lovers Who love and are loved
And are Love.
And the One Love loved. But Three
Are the Three Lovers Who love and are loved
And are Love.
One is the Love we love, and love for:
But Three are those we love and
One our Three Lovers, loving One another.
Their One Love for One another is their Love for us,
And One is our Love for all Three and all One
And for us, on earth, brothers, one another!
But Three are those we love and
One our Three Lovers, loving One another.
Their One Love for One another is their Love for us,
And One is our Love for all Three and all One
And for us, on earth, brothers, one another!
One God is the One Love propter quam amatur
And Three Persons of the One Love are quae amantur.
So to love One alone is little better
Than loving none.
But to love Three is to love One.
And Three Persons of the One Love are quae amantur.
So to love One alone is little better
Than loving none.
But to love Three is to love One.
Now today, while these Three
Love One another in me,
Loving me, and I love them,
Suddenly I can no longer live in mortal flesh,
Love One another in me,
Loving me, and I love them,
Suddenly I can no longer live in mortal flesh,
Because your book, O Scotus, burns me like a branding iron!
If I could only breathe I would cry out, if I could cry,
To tell someone what Voices robbed me of my being!
If I could only breathe I would cry out, if I could cry,
To tell someone what Voices robbed me of my being!
For the sound of my Beloved,
The voice of the sound of my Three Beloved
(One of my Three of my One Beloved)
The voice of the sound of my Three Beloved
(One of my Three of my One Beloved)
Comes down out of the heavenly depths
And hits my heart like thunder:
And lo! I am alive and dead
With heart held fast in that Three-Pcrsoned Love.
And hits my heart like thunder:
And lo! I am alive and dead
With heart held fast in that Three-Pcrsoned Love.
And lo! God, my God!
Look! Look! I travel in Thy strength
I swing in the grasp of Thy Love, Thy great Love’s One Strength,
I run Thy swift ways, Thy straightest rails
Until my life becomes Thy Life and sails or rides like an express!
Look! Look! I travel in Thy strength
I swing in the grasp of Thy Love, Thy great Love’s One Strength,
I run Thy swift ways, Thy straightest rails
Until my life becomes Thy Life and sails or rides like an express!
Word, the whole universe swells with Thy wide-open speed,
Father, the world bursts, breaks, huge Spirit, with Thy might
Then land, sea and wind swing
And roll from my forgotten feet
While God sings victory, sings victory
In the blind day of that defeat.
Father, the world bursts, breaks, huge Spirit, with Thy might
Then land, sea and wind swing
And roll from my forgotten feet
While God sings victory, sings victory
In the blind day of that defeat.