WHEN the TREES SAY NOTHING

Thomas Merton. WHEN the TREES SAY NOTHING. Kathleen Deignan, Ed. Sorin, 2003.

I must have found this book on my impromptu trip to Seattle last fall. A beautiful cover, small volume with "good hand", and I've turned to it in this time of confusion and fear associated with American politics. I note that Merton documented an incident when the monastery where he lived in Kentucky was being circled by a military helicopter. I read this as a nod to the conspiracy theory that Merton was assassinated by US government agents while he was attending a conference in Asia, because of his vocal anti-Vietnam War position. But this is not part of this book. These are excerpts from his personal journals, observations of the natural world, and the gratitude he felt and the pleasure he gained by being able to have solitary time to write.