The Royal Mountain

Feast I drank of every vine The last was like the first I came upon no wine As wonderful as thirst I gnawed at every root I ate of every plant I came upon no fruit As wonderful as want Feed the grape and bean To the vintner and monger I will lie down lean With my thirst and my hunger. -Edna St. Vincent Millay

Darkness - Lord Byron

Dark Turn of Mind - Gillian Welch

I See A Darkness - Johnny Cash

House of God, Forever - Jon Foreman

"If I am journeying Godward, as I feel I am, it is safe with me. For I feel the warmth of the sunshine of HIs presence. My austerities, fastings and prayers are, I know, of no value, if I rely upon them for reforming me. But they have an inestimable value, if they represent, as I hope they do, the yearnings of a soul striving to lay his weary head in the lap of his Maker." -Gandhi

Witness Sometimes the mountain is hidden from me in veils of cloud, sometimes I am hidden from the mountain in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue when I forget or refuse to go down to the shore or a few yards up the road, on a clear day, to reconfirm that witnessing presence. -Denise Levertov

I shall keep singing! Birds will pass me On their way to Yellower Climes-- Each--with a Robin's expectation-- I--with my Redbreast--And my Rhymes--  Late--when I take my place in summer-- But--I shall bring a fuller tune-- Vespers--are sweeter than Matins--Signor-- Morning--only the seed of Noon--                      -Emily Dickinson