[Merton] came closest to being a buddhist poet, in the Chinese manner. The aura was the man; that is why, I think, his translations of Chuang are the best to be found. (p. 386)

The apocalyptic note is there in the poetry. By that I mean something more … than the terrified squeak of Chicken Little. Something more than powerlessness under the Bomb. It was an old notion—first, taking it all into account (this was a simple demand of truthfulness); then, the resolution, which in the final analysis was out of our hands (indeed, out of the hands of the bombers and bomb makers). But still, the outcome was not out of our hands; it also depended, if we could trust the bible, on the conviction, enterprise, courage of those who could speak up, stand somewhere….

Before most of us, poets or otherwise, realized what hung over us, he...