revisiting merton

"...I live in the woods out of necessity. I get out of bed in the middle of the night because it is imperative that I hear the silence of the night, alone, and, with my face on the floor, say psalms, alone, in the silence of the night.
...the silence of the forest is my bride and the sweet dark warmth of the whole world is my love and out of the heart of that dark warmth comes the secret that is heard only in silence, but it is the root of all the secrets that are whispered by all the lovers in their beds all over the world."-Thomas Merton

he found me in a small bookshop on hawthorne and we have communed in the late hours ever since. he is my kindred of a life lived before. we share the forest. it is out of necessity.