Let me end with an almost perfect Franciscan poem by a modern and wise poet, Chris Ellery, written in honor of John the Baptist. I am honored that he gave me permission to use this as-yet-unpublished poem. His lovely metaphor for our humble returning to the Source, like John the Baptist wanting to get smaller, is simply the natural descent and ready evaporation of water itself. No wonder that Francis called her “Sister Water, so useful, lowly, precious, and fair!” Water always and forever seeks the lower, and even the lowest, place. We must let water be our teacher here. And water, as you know, is the one single universal element necessary for all of life.
When I fear I have done wrong,
when I look to those who are less than wise,
when I forget transcendence and kneel in the meanings of
color and shadow,
when I tell lies to my soul,
I seek out water, I follow its charm—a river, a stream,
a lake with its springs and currents.
See how it offers life
as it flawlessly flows and forms
to the shape of this world, the contours of land, the urge
of earth,
hear how it sings under the sun
of endless evaporation.
—from the book Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi
by Richard Rohr
