Thomas Merton's Destiny
He lived to a higher standard,
So it should be no surprise
That his unexpected death
Was met by the standard lies.
All Poems by David Martin
(except "All the Way Down" by Thomas Merton)
"In my ending is my meaning."
-Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton's Martyrdom
They say his death was meaningless.
That's what they want us to swallow.
But in light of all the evidence,
Their argument rings hollow.
His life was full of purpose,
But we must to the world confide:
His words had no more meaning
Than the things for which he died.
The Thomas Merton Assassination
For reason of state
He had to be killed.
For reason of state,
Blood had to be spilled.
You're oh so naive
To expect moral purity
The man had to die
For our nation's "security."
Your thirst for the truth
Will just go unsated.
Our reason of state
Can never be stated.
Post-Christian Man
Look up to the organization
With the proper awe and fear.
Bow down to your earthly betters,
And safeguard your career.
Neither sun nor moon will smite you
In daytime or at night,
If you keep your waters waveless,
Regardless of what's right.
Your temporal protectors
Will neither slumber nor sleep,
As long as you are one
With the company that you keep.
With sovereignty unchecked
By any Higher Power,
The purposeful collective
Displays its finest flower.
That purpose is whatever
Our vulgar fancy wills
When no one's eyes are lifted
Unto the Psalmist's hills.
(Psalm 121 updated)
Thomas Merton Fairy Tale
Merton slipped and had a fall
And landed on his head.
A "banana peel" was introduced
Long after he was dead.
The slippage didn't make much sense;
It could give a skeptic pause,
So a prop was trotted out
And offered as the cause.
For almost half a century
The subterfuge held sway.
The men who took Tom Merton's life
Had everything their way.
Now the veil's been torn away;
The crime has been revealed,
While his "devotees" act as though
They wish it were concealed.
You'd think that they would surely know
That this makes them look bad.
Are they just embarrassed at
How badly they've been had?
Epistemological Mystery and Thomas Merton
How have the narrow and the gauche,
Flaunting “econ,” “psych,” and “soash,”
Eclipsed their intellectual betters,
Our once exalted men of letters?
They’ve certainly never shown that they
Have more perceptive things to say
About life’s deeper mysteries
With formulae and indices
Than our tested bards and sages
Whom we’ve trusted through the ages,
But for no reason demonstrated,
Our literati abdicated…
Except for Merton,
Who was assassinated.
Wise Monkeys?
Why haven't they looked into Merton's demise?
Here's what's occurred to me:
Our scholars have all averted their eyes
Out of fear of what they might see.
Learning from Experience
The Sanhedrin really blew it.
At the time, nobody knew it.
But once they saw how everything went,
They wished they'd contrived an "accident."
So Wrong about Thomas Merton's Death
To the tune of Patsy Cline's “So Wrong.”
We've been so wrong
For so long;
About how Merton died,
We were wrong, oh so wrong.
We've been so wrong
For so long.
How could we guess
That they'd fool us like this?
We were wrong.
Ever touched a bad fan.
That was just a ruse.
What Merton got
Was the fruit of a plot.
You must know whose.
We were so wrong
For so long;
Now we've seen the light,
And we must make it right.
We were wrong.
No shower-wet hand
Ever touched a bad fan.
That was just a ruse.
What Merton got
Was the fruit of a plot.
You must know whose.
We were so wrong
For so long;
Now we've seen the light,
And we must make it right.
We were wrong.
Thomas Merton's Hermitage Orientation
Said Merton to Abbot James Fox,
"You know that I'm not so inclined,
But back at the big Trappist box,
There are those who are you will find."
Too Much Knowledge about Thomas Merton's Death
Could it be we've learned too much?
If charged, we must confess.
We would be more popular
If we knew much less.
When we "knew" what others "knew,"
Everything was great.
Merton pros had not consigned us
To a "pariah" state.
Education's big with them
And ignorance the foe,
Except for those disturbing things
That they don't want to know.
"Merton considered himself basically a poet--not a philosopher or theologian. But he was most often lauded for his clear and concrete treatment of complex issues in philosophy and theology."
-Israel Shenker
Silenced Oracle
The poet is the conscience of the nation,
Or, I've been told he should be,
But now I see no indication
He even knows he could be.
All the Way Down
I went down
Into the cavern
All the way down
To the bottom of the sea.
I went down lower
Than Jonas and the whale
No one ever got so far down
As me.
I went down lower
Than any diamond mine
Deeper than the lowest hole
In Kimberly
All the way down
I thought I was the devil
He was no deeper down
Than me.
And when they thought
That I was gone forever
That I was all the way
In hell
I got right back into my body
And came back out
And rang my bell.
No matter how
They try to harm me now
No matter where
They lay me in the grave
No matter what injustices they do
I've seen the root
Of all that believe.
I've seen the room
Where life and death are made
And I have known
The secret forge of war
I even saw the womb
That all things come from
For I got down so far!
But when they thought
That I was gone forever
That I was all the way
In hell
I got right back into my body
And came back out
And rang my bell.
From The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton.
Thomas Merton's Stage-Prop Fan
To the tune of "Secret Agent Man"
There was a nice floor fan he used for cooling;
They rigged a substitute they used for fooling.
After he was whacked,
The ringer was unpacked.
Merton’s work against the war found termination.
Merton’s stage-prop fan.
Merton’s stage-prop fan.
They killed a Christian warrior, and they used a fiendish plan.
Beware of pious folks who claim you’re nuts.
Who say the monk they knew was just a klutz.
As though a lethal fan
Couldn’t kill a handy man,
This sounds just like the voice of desperation.
Merton’s stage-prop fan.
Merton’s stage-prop fan.
They killed a peaceful warrior, and they sold a fiendish plan.
The living conscience of the nation one day,
Victim of a household appliance the next day,
I don’t care where you go,
Searching high and low,
You’ll find no better choice for canonization.
Merton’s stage-prop fan.
Merton’s stage-prop fan.
He should be a martyr, but we bought their fiendish plan:
Merton’s stage-prop fan.
Waxing Indignant at the ITMS over Merton
"How dare you?" they said.
What else could they say?
The facts of the case
Would not go away.
Thomas Merton was stricken
In late '68.
To learn all the facts,
We've had a long wait.
The man passed away
Quite mysteriously.
A monk said that he shouted
Around 2, no, make that 3.
Another monk claimed he had showered.
He was wet, don't you see?
But he didn't write that
Until '73.
That monk, they would have it,
Was very nearly a saint.
Could one imagine him lying?
They all say, "We can't."
So, it's upon his fine word
That a fan did Tom in,
And the doubters all come
From some big loony bin.
Of whom are we talking
When we use the word “they?”
Checking the links, you needn't guess.
It's those at the top of the ITMS.
Street Art ?
On the corner of a street in Louisville
Where Merton had his epiphany
There's a sign of commemoration.
But now they've added something else,
And you'll be shocked at what you see.
Assassination 101
We all like to hear scary stories.
I'll tell you one that will thrill you.
If they thought it was in their interests,
Our government thugs would kill you.
It's all in the CIA playbook
Just the details they need to invent.
They really can be quite sloppy
When they set up their "accident."
So what if there are no good answers
To questions like "when? and "how?"
They know to the voice of "authority"
Most people will meekly bow.
Though the parts of the cover-up story
Can't be crafted to fall into place,
Our press will still spare no effort
To sell us the government's case.
When all we can hear is one version,
The government truth and no more,
Don't you wonder about all those reporters?
Just who are they working for?
What happened to equal protection?
Who protects us from government crimes
When we can't depend on our scholars
Or The News or The Post or The Times?
The Soviet state has now fallen,
With its empire constructed on fear.
But if we don't do something to stop it
We're well on our way to that here.
ITMS Hostility Explained
What does their loathing for
The facts we give them show?
They'd rather not know more
Than it's safe to know.
Correcting the Merton Death Record
After fifty years of misinformation,
Two things need to be said:
Thomas Merton wasn't wet from a shower,
And there was a hole in his head.
Thomas Merton Trouble Makers
Don't you think that the monks have suffered enough?
Why won't you let the man lie?
He just wasn't good with mechanical stuff,
And in due time it caused him to die.
We've assured you his death was an accident.
Who could have wanted him dead?
If you see him as threatening to anyone,
You must be off in the head.
The AP declared he was shocked to death.
We'll give it the first and last say,
And you who regard the man as a martyr
Can be off on your dreary way.
-David Martin