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Circling In

It’s time (I tell myself) we circled in;
Gave up at last the overwrought concern
That pulls us this-way-that till we begin

To lose the human power to discern
What truly holds and what has little ground
At all and should be simply overturned.

It’s now a world where heresies abound
And simple truth is held in disrepute.
Much has been lost and little has been found.

And many hope that we might yet commute
The sentence, somehow gain the discipline
Again to brave a world of absolutes.

The answer, though, seems just below the skin:
It’s time (I tell myself) we circled in.

.

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Jeffrey Essmann is an essayist and poet living in New York. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, among them Agape Review, America Magazine, Dappled Things, the St. Austin Review, U.S. Catholic, Grand Little Things, Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, and various venues of the Benedictine monastery with which he is an oblate. He is editor of the Catholic Poetry Room page on the Integrated Catholic Life website.

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9 Responses

  1. James Sale

    Excellent work – good to see other poets using Dantean terza rima. ‘Much has been lost and little has been found.’ is quite wonderful. Beautiful in structure and in meaning.

    Reply
  2. Joseph S. Salemi

    Your poem’s metaphor of “circling in” reminds me of what happened in the period following the fall of Rome and the Dark Ages — sane people either built castles with thick walls and moats, or joined monasteries safely seated on hills.

    Reply
  3. Roy Eugene Peterson

    The time has come to circle the wagons or take some such protective action of self-preservation. This message is clear, concise, and beautifully rhymed. “Much has been lost and little found” is an inspired phrase.

    Reply
  4. Cynthia Erlandson

    For sure, “It’s now a world where heresies abound.” Overall the poem seems rather cryptic, and there’s nothing wrong with that; as I reader, I shouldn’t always be trying to find specifics in well-expressed, though veiled, generalities. Humans have certainly lost discernment (if we ever had it); and truth certainly is held in disrepute. In any case, congratulations on accomplishing the challenge of terza rima!

    Reply
  5. Paul A. Freeman

    Circling in can mean either to attack or to withdraw and protect, or in this case maybe both in these uncertain times.

    Plenty of meaningful lines, Jeffrey, and I’m still slowly piecing them together.

    Thanks for the read.

    Reply
  6. Shamik Banerjee

    A finely-wrought poem with a tinge of mystery. From my understanding, it’s about the very fog of falsehoods and abnormalities of current times since your poem itself says, “And simple truth is held in disrepute.” It’s true, and it’s sad. But yes, high time we circled in.
    Also, I think, by this: “The answer, though, seems just below the skin,” you are implying human conscience or intuition. Thanks for this, Mr. Essmann. God bless!

    Reply
  7. Margaret Coats

    Jeffrey, you’ll have it “just below the skin” to understand one historian’s description of the times of Saint Benedict, relative to his establishment of one, and then another, out-of-the-way monastic house. “When you opened the door, there might be someone there ready to kill you.” Benedict, with his practicality about a school of the Lord’s service, re-made a world of absolutes. And look at the “circled” form you’ve made:

    terza rima sonnet
    aba bcb cdc ded ee

    round terza rima sonnet
    Aba bcb cdc dad aA

    Unlike most who use all capital letters for rhyme schemes, I reserve capitals for refrains. Benedico opus tuum!

    Reply
    • Jeffrey Essmann

      P.S. The “new” sonnet form I thank you for in my note to the group is actually a thank-you for the name. I’ve done terza rima sonnets before, but hadn’t heard of a round terza rima sonnet. I just thought I was ripping off Robert Frost (“Acquainted with the Night”). Peace, Jeffrey

      Reply
  8. Jeffrey Essmann

    Thanks so much, everyone, for your heartening response to this. It was exactly the conversation I’d hoped the poem might initiate–and, frankly, could only expect from this website. (Thank you, Evan!)

    “Circling in” is a phrase I coined–or that coined itself, really–to describe my internal response to the madness and dissolution going all around us. In trying to figure it out myself, the first association that came to mind was “circling one’s wagons” (as Roy pointed out), a defensive posture. It also, though has for me a sense of narrowing one’s spiritual focus to something more local, more communal, more–as Joseph and Margaret noted–monastic. I’ve mentioned here before that I’m a Benedictine oblate (just renewed my vows for the eighth year in July), and one of the things that appealed to me about Benedictine spirituality from the beginning is its Dark Ages roots. I can’t imagine a better guide than The Rule in these sad, insane days. So I have to credit Holy Father Benedict for teaching me how to “circle in”.

    Thanks again, everyone. You’re too kind, all of you. And Margaret, a special thank-you for the intro to a new sonnet form!

    Peace,

    Jeffrey

    Reply

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