You stand, robed in jeweled armor,
Shimmering gold, bathed in light
That does not emanate from You
But rather runs to You,
Wrapping itself—twisting, turning—
Luminance created in the beginning,
Rejoicing in its creator,
Like dogs leaping around their master,
Vying for Your attention.
Invisible flow of brightness,
turning from trickle to torrent,
A river eager to enter its ocean,
An undertow to your depths—
Until resplendence and roar
Slowly sink into deepest, darkest silence,
Wrapped in You,
A burial in which I would rather drown
than ever breathe again.
Tim Bete, OCDS, was the founding editor of the Catholic Poetry Room. He just completed writing his third poetry collection, Translation of Wonder, following The Raw Stillness of Heaven and Wanderings of an Ordinary Pilgrim. His poetry has also been published in Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, Mount Carmel magazine, Apostolate of the Little Flower magazine, and by the Semi-Province of St. Thérèse of the Discalced Carmelite Friars.
Tim is a member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, where he has served as a Formator, on Council, and as President. He has been a speaker on the topic of poetry and its role in faith on the Carmelite Conversations Podcast, the Catholic Imagination Conference, and in news stories published by the Catholic News Agency.