![\"Thomas](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/merton1.jpg\")
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Yeah, I’m one of those dirty freakin’ hippies who acknowledges Buy Nothing Day<\/a><\/strong> every November 23rd. Black Friday<\/a><\/strong> just ain’t my thing. If you’re one of those people who wakes up at 5 a.m. to get in line for sales at Wal-Mart or Sears on the day after Thanksgiving and you shop all day long<\/em>, I hope you’ll still have respect for me for celebrating the alternative here and I hope we can try to understand one another when I say: I just. don’t. get. it. <\/p>\n And, this is a bit of a stretch, but as I was looking at Adbusters’ Buy Nothing Day site<\/a><\/strong>, I got to thinking about over-consumption. And that got me thinking about one of my favorite poems ever (which I happen to have matted and framed on one of the walls of my home in a lovely Thomas Merton poster I once found in the cobwebbed corner of an old used bookstore, but I digress). It’s called “The Harmonies of Excess,” written by Trappist monk\/acclaimed Catholic spiritual writer\/poet\/author\/social activist Thomas Merton<\/a><\/strong>, pictured above (his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, is a fabulous read). <\/p>\n So, sure, this has nothing to do with the over-consumption which Buy Nothing Day addresses. And, sure, I just thought of it ’cause of the word “excess,” but it’s always been one of my favorite poems. Just humor me. <\/p>\n “The Harmonies of Excess” by Thomas Merton<\/p>\n * * * * * * *<\/p>\n The hidden lovers in the soil Then they force the delighted They spin the senses of the mute morning
\nBecome green plants and gardens tomorrow
\nWhen they are ordered to re-appear
\nIn the wet sun’s poem <\/p>\n
\nPower of buds to laugh louder
\nThey scatter all the cries of light
\nLike shadow rain and make their bed
\nOver and over in the hollow flower
\nThe violet bonfire <\/p>\n
\nIn an abandoned river
\nLove’s wreckage is then left to lie
\nAll around the breathless shores
\nOf my voice
\nWhich on the coasts of larking meadows
\nInvented all these children and their mischievous noises<\/p><\/blockquote>\n