Breathe into me, the Spirit bright instill,
That I might taste the sweetness of His will
And know delight
So recondite
My soul unfolds to its exquisite thrill.
That I might sense and savor the sublime
He’s tucked into each tiny speck of time,
Each moment blessed
With happiness
For those who toward the Lord of All upclimb.
That I might then by Spirit well be tossed
Into the world so retrograde and lost
And breathe His light
With all my might
In turn and burn ablaze with Pentecost.
Jeffrey Essmann is an essayist and poet living in New York. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, among them America Magazine, Dappled Things, the St. Austin Review and The Road Not Taken. He is a Benedictine oblate of Mt. Saviour Monastery.