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No Guru, No Church, No Dependency

Rushing off to begin a solitary retreat last month, I suddenly remembered that I wanted to check something in the liturgy so, in a hurry (yes, I know!!), I grabbed the first copy I could find and set off to my hut. Only later, once I’d settled down, did I take a look and realise that it was a very old copy indeed. To my surprise, there, on the front cover (see overleaf), is some writing in John’s hand: a totally different version of my favourite of all his poems ‘No guru ….’ His writing is hard to decipher but I think this is what he wrote:

photo of old liturgy book page
Open the file below for a larger view

No guru. No church No dependency
Beyond the lighthouse the wind on the sea.
The fool by a signless signpost
Stands as a compass to the way
Here on the island where the trail ends
You go down to the sea alone
Hell’s - - - -
- - - - - -

 

I laughed when Alysun Jones told me she imagined John composing the scribbled verse on some Greek island. I’d imagined him bird-watching on a cold and windswept Lundy Island. Whichever islands inspired him I realise that the meaning of ‘No guru…’ translates to anywhere. 

How old is this copy? I thought of cleaning it up to print it here, but I prefer it as it is, probably copied on a Xerox machine in the early 1980s.

There were no colour photocopiers then, at least not readily available, and I think the orange robes must have been added by hand in each copy. I have another copy and the robes are coloured yellow. It does take me back to those early, tough, and wild, retreats when John had not long bought the Maenllwyd, there were holes in the roof, a very smoky Raeburn, and we ate, slept, worked and meditated in the house. 

I hope you enjoy a few more inspiring words from the master!

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