Love will heal wounds of desire,
Then bleed you dry as stone
Love throws you into sacred fires
Where you will burn alone.
In the previous stanzas on Love the reader was introduced to the concept of Love as an entity (more than a feeling; see blogs on stanzas I-III inclusive), followed by Love as physically expressed (see blog on stanza IV) and then the feelings of hurt of associated with Love (binding and piercing; see blog on stanza V).
In stanza VI we see all these previous elements combined. Love having the power to heal and hurt, but also the concept of purify or sanctify. This is the concept of Love being trans-formative.
This particular stanza also serves as a prime example of how the visitor speaks in "poetic parables". This stanza is open to a very real interpretation of the pain many may have felt when it comes to Love. However, as a parable, there is a story within the story open for interpretation by the reader. In this stanza, the underlying story of the parable is actually about the acceptance of Love as a trans-formative power. It is actually from the visitor's perspective a story about the experience of Grace.
Love - Stanza VI, Line I : Love will heal wounds of desire,
In the first line of stanza VI the visitor depicts Love again as an entity with an ability. In this case Love (object) heals (action). Love in stanza VI is not talking about "feeling"...except the stanza is also rift with the idea of physical feeling (wounds, bleed, burn). As such, this stanza is complex with discordant messages that fit well with visitor's dualistic view of the world, but may be a little confusing to those who hear his message.
To "heal wounds of desire" is to heal hurts associated with loss, rejection, and loneliness. While there may be other such feelings, typically wounds of desire are not of a physical nature, but rather an emotional nature. When we lose someone we Love, or our feelings for someone are not reciprocated, or when we feel isolated. Although these are not "physical" pains they are still very much real. As such, they need healing as much as any cut, break or bruise.
Physical injuries are healed through the bodies process of healing itself. Sometimes it may need help, from doctors, from antibiotics, even blood transfusions. The point is, all the remedies for physical injury are physical remedies. For healing wounds of desire, which are non-physical, the cure is also non-physical. Whether it is time, or Love, or a combination of; the point is that Love will heal these very real non-physical wounds which are associated with feelings such as loss, rejection and loneliness.
Love - Stanza VI, Line II : Then bleed you dry as stone
As already described above, here Love is acting as an entity or force, not a feeling. To most readers this line will appear to be associated with "pain", the idea of being bled as dry as a stone is not a comforting thought. However, that is not the meaning of the visitor.
To be bled as dry as stone is not an uncommon concept. The saying, "you can't get blood out of a stone" means "to attempt that which is impossible". In the easiest translation of the underlying meaning of the visitor's poetic parable in line II is "Love can do that which is impossible".
Love - Stanza VI, Line III : Love throws you into sacred fires
Again in line III we see Love as an entity/power/force which is acting (throwing) rather than a "feeling". However, the reader once again probably interprets this line through a more sensual lens, of the pain which may be associated with Love.
However, there are specific meanings associated to the concept of "sacred fire" underlying the visitor's words. Many indigenous North American ceremonies incorporate the use of a sacred fire. In many of these celebrations, fire is seen as a gift from the Creator and a manifestation of the Spirit. Although you cannot touch it without pain, the warmth and the light touches us.
The concept of fire and sacredness is also common in Jewish and Christian doctrine, as witnessed by when God spoke to Moses through a burning bush' or in Matthew 3:11 where Jesus is described as one who will baptize you "with the Holy Spirit and Fire".
As the novel The Visitor is influenced by Thomas Merton and his appreciation for inter-faith understanding, it should not be surprising by the reader to see a line which contains cross-cultural references to Faith.
The point of line III, stanza VI as relayed by the visitor is not about the pain of Love but rather of the sanctifying ability of Love as a spiritual power.
Love - Stanza VI, Line IV : Where you will burn alone.
The concept of alone was discussed in length in the previous blog on stanza V of the poetic parable on Love. The underlying message in the visitor's comments are not about suffering pain alone caused by Love, although for many readers that interpretation may be valid.
For the visitor however, as described throughout the continuum of poetic parables, this is the personal sacred part of the journey. Just as you enter the world alone, you leave alone. To be touched by the Spirit is a personal experience, not open for debate or comparison with anyone who has or has not been touched by a similar experience. The visitor was never keen on such debates. This attitude of the visitor is explained early in the novel (page 2) by the narrator who points out how the visitor would have responded to such challenges:
He would not have been keen to entertain arguments with others on whether life was a series of events open to arbitrary choice or a matter of predetermined fate. Such arguments he felt were fruitless and without consequence. Instead, he was more prone to admire a perfectly designed system of ordered chaos constantly in flux with individual human choice. He felt there was something beautiful in the concept of unpredictable chaos within an intentional master design: a duality, like body and spirit.
As described by the visitor, the idea of "where you will burn alone" is in essence a description of the state or personal experience of Grace, where when you are touched by Love in this sense.... you will burn alone.
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I hope that you have found some surprising elements of the underlying messages in stanza VI. Although your own personal interpretations will be valid for you, I hope that for those who have read the blogs on Love stanzas I-VI inclusive are starting to get the sense of what is meant by the concept of a "poetic parable".
The visitor speaks only in poetic parables, and as such the reader is challenged to interpret the story within the story. Part of the beauty of the parable is that every reader may extract a different meaning, and that meaning is the one meant for them.
Until we meet again to discuss stanza VII, I now present to you the poetic parable on Love, stanzas I through VI together and uninterrupted.
Journey in Love,
Michael Paul
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When Love beckons, do not sleep
And let none stand in defiance of;
Though cost be high and loss be steep
Leave doubt behind and yield to Love.
As sure as Love will lift you high
To heights beyond your reach
To fully grasp; you must partly die
Self-interest must be breached.
And Love will drop you like a bird
Scorched flying near the sun
Do not the dizzy heights disturb
Love’s quest to become one.
For your body; it will bless
And guide you through all weather
While softly naked it will caress
Your body like a feather.
Then it will bind and chain and flog
Till you can take no more
And leave you stumbling in the fog
Alone - lost in amour.
Love will heal wounds of desire,
Then bleed you dry as stone
Love throws you into sacred fires
Where you will burn alone.