When You Can Find a Smile - Enrique González Martínez

[Lawrence Robinson]

When You Can Find a Smile


When you can find a smile

in the drop that seeps

from porous stone; in mist,

in sunlight, in the bird and in the breeze;

when nothing to your eyes remains inert,

or shapeless, colorless, or far away;

when you have entered into life itself

and into the mystery

of silence, shadow, and of death;

when you extend your gaze

toward the many pathways of the cosmos,

and your own striving becomes

a powerful microscope,

discovering invisible worlds,

then, in the flames of a fire

of infinite and more-than-human love,

like Saint Francis of Assisi,

you will call brother

the tree, the cloud-lit sky, and the wild beast.

You will feel within the vast multitude

of beings and of things

your very self;

you will become all terror with the abyss,

and all exultation with the mountain peak.

Your love will shake away

the tainted dust

that stains the whiteness of the lily;

you will bless the sandy margins of the shore

and worship the flight of the insect;

you will kiss the hooked thorn

and the silken garments of the dahlias…

And gently you will remove your sandals,

lest you wound

the stones along the path.

	- Enrique González Martínez