BEYOND LIFE IS LUSHER LIFE
by Blake Steele
Poetry about death and resurrection
file opened 7/94
A...
A MESSAGE TO UCAP VOLUNTEERS
A MUSICAL DEATH WATCH
A SEASON OF GRIEVING
A THIRST FOR LIFE
B...
BLESSINGS IN DEATH
D...
DEATH (a variation on a theme from Reverdy)
DON'T BE AFRAID
DYING
G....
GOD GRANT YOU A BLESSED DEATH
GRIEVING OVER DEATH
F...
FIRST THE NATURAL, THEN THE SPIRITUAL
I...
I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
IN TRUTH, WE GRIEVE ONLY FOR OURSELVES
INVOCATION AND REQUESTS
I SAW A NURSE WHO HELPED A MAN DIE
O...
OUR WORK
R...
REMEMBER AND TAKE COURAGE
RIDING THE BLACK HORSE
T...
TERMINAL ENDINGS
THAT THE LAST GRIEF MIGHT MELT AWAY
THE FINAL FIRE OF PASSION
THE LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
THERE IS A LUMINOUS DEATH
THE TRUE MINISTERS
THERE ARE WINDING, WATERY PATHWAYS
THIS VISION OF THE BEAUTY OF DYING
TO MUSICAL MIDWIVES
U...
UPON THE SHIP WE HAVE ALWAYS NAMED HOPE
W...
WE ARE CHOOSEN TO BE MIDWIVES
WE ARE HERE TO SING SOUL PEACE
WHEN I TAKE MY IDENTITY
WHO CAN VISIT THE STOREHOUSE OF GRIEF?
WORDS IN TWO LANGUAGES FOR DYING AND LIVING
WORDS OF GENTLE LEADING
Last Poem in File:
WORDS IN TWO LANGUAGES FOR DYING AND LIVING
A MESSAGE TO UCAP VOLUNTEERS
It is not enough
to know God, experience God
or love God....
we must celebrate God,
exalt God,
make God beautiful
in our manifestation of Him.
This is our mission,
that hearts might awaken
as they grasp and feel
their essential need
of the Holy Maker
through our lives
and work.
Yet, it is not enough
to celebrate God,
exalt God,
or make God beautiful
until we bear this
work, this essential
unveiling through our artistry
to the most needy:
to the sick, to the oppressed,
to the dying.
Then we shall know
the rising light
of the Divine smile
radiating out from the core of us
to warm the whole
of our lives.
I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
Jesus purely loves young beauty.
That is why an old woman
springs up into youth again;
that is why an old broken man
becomes an adventuresome boy.
GRIEVING OVER DEATH
It is the eyes of the heart
which can see beyond
the empty chair
by the lonely fireside.
Our heart of faith whispers,
"My beloved one
lives in a beautiful place..."
With that, our soul is strangely comforted
and the two worlds are for a moment, one.
If we should long to join them,
then, mysteriously, they join us.
If we should briefly meet them
in the rich, mingling feelings
of our spirit and body,
this would be the radiant root
of a deathless joy.
IN TRUTH, WE GRIEVE ONLY FOR OURSELVES
By our faith,
we can bless the heart of God
and of our loved ones
who have passed before us
into that hidden, wondrous world.
The only strange, sad grief of Heaven
is the pang in beautiful hearts
concerning our pain of grief for them.
Why should we grieve for those
whose souls are young again,
and joyous always?
It is they, who in their wakeful compassions
long (without anguish),
for us to arise and relish
the rare blessings all around us
which we must learn
to thankfully savor.
In truth, we grieve only for ourselves
--what might have been and what is no more--
yet, our terrible loss is only for a season...
The essential ties of the soul are torn
to be reborn
in glad exaltation.
We shall gaze again into
the eyes we have known and loved
and see reflected there
a boundless happiness!
THE LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
The little child shall lead them
when words of truth
flow from deep chambers of the heart
opened by simplicity's white hands.
There is a wise child who is behind us
(locked in a prison),
who is before us, beckoning us on
into our final freedom.
This child alone knows the way through
the tremulous storms of thick darkness;
this child alone can walk between two dragons
into earth's final paradise of peace.
It is this child
who takes off all mortal gowns
in death's slow disintegration,
and steps naked
out through pure nothingness
into heaven's radiance.
THE FINAL FIRE OF PASSION
The final fire of passion
is to pass over!
It is for the great release to come
with the heart wide open!
It is to sing death, like a celebration.
Such is the victory of a luminous death!
But for us who are left behind,
there are good-byes which can only be spoken
with expressions of the face,
gentle touches of the hand,
and the muttering of metaphors.
What else can be done?
Good-bye is the pain we endure
because we have loved.
UPON THE SHIP WE HAVE ALWAYS NAMED HOPE
A ship lets loose its lines
as the crowd stirs
and white sails,
like mounting, morning clouds,
are spread to the blue winds.
We are the unwilling watchers
on the shore
bidding beloved sailors farewell,
watching white sails
grow dim, disappearing
into the dark of night.
Yet, if we linger in the silence left us,
listening long with the strong intent
of our faith,
we might faintly hear wild spray
curling over the ship's bow
as it sails into the invisible light
of a distant dawn.
WE ARE CHOOSEN TO BE MIDWIVES
There is no way around the cross
which love nails us to
that it might deepen our souls for loving.
We must grow to grant our full permission
of a soul's release--
though we sign it with a broken heart
and seal it with the tears of our eyes--
it is that we might birth the beloved wayfarer
into eternity
with our courageous final act of love.
It is not our choice
but the choice of love
that we become
their broken-hearted midwives.
DON'T BE AFRAID
Don't be afraid.
Your beloved is with God now,
and God is a rising ecstasy,
a blue breath of freedom in the veins.
There is a distant, spiritual country
which views this world
as insubstantial shadow.
They are there now, finally and fully alive!
Their joyous freedom is astonishing!
There is a soft radiance
which streams out of everything.
Bird song astounds the soul with beauty.
It is the land of the deep gentle
which is like a mother's warm arms.
It is the place which has always
seeped into our highest dreams of happiness,
the source of that loving wonder
which gave us strength to carry on
until the final farewell.
Don't be afraid,
your beloved is saying hello now to God's kind face.
And we shall follow them one day.
*
To a person of faith, our most painful good-byes
shall become, in the end, our most joyous hellos.
REMEMBER AND TAKE COURAGE
A good death
is a loving farewell
into birth. In truth, a graduation.
The tearing of the roots of the soul
for the one left behind
is an astonishing pain,
making a yielding soul soft,
making the outraged soul
fierce like wildfire.
But the dying one leaves
and is born anew into a rapturous, white, safety.
The face becomes noble
as it beholds astounding wonders.
A little girl springs out of an old woman's body
and embraces the young Messiah.
A young boy leaps up from on old man's bones,
his eyes flashing, his nostrils flared
as the great adventure begins.
You who remain,
weeping in the shadows of mortal trees,
remember...
somewhere, high overhead,
golden doors are opening
and a wondrous music has begun.
TO MUSICAL MIDWIVES
The soulful presence
of a musician
who is a poet
of life
shall be the work
of giving a sacred,
silent, meaning
to the holiness
of death.
OUR WORK
Our work
is to sing
the sacred
meaning
of the holiness
of death.
THE TRUE MINISTERS
Many would wish you health and wealth.
Let those who journey towards
becoming deep, spacious souls
wish you good living and dying.
DEATH
(a variation on a theme from Reverdy)
Two worlds draw near each other.
As a burning candle dies
its smoke goes up.
Someone has gone up.
Above the low clouds of gray
the blue sky is also rising...
From naked trees in the mist
golden stars are dangling,
whirling and spinning
in a delicate breeze.
All around the roof edges
of a distant cathedral
there are golden gutters
from which little silver bells are hanging.
Prayers arise for the departed
like clouds of incense--
a free heart has flown away
and we sit sadly listening.
Somewhere, the soul,
like candle smoke,
softly rises into heaven.
It passes by little silver bells
and makes them ring.
THAT THE LAST GRIEF MIGHT MELT AWAY
Sing your last grief away now,
with your silent, inner voice.
The song begins with...thank you...
and ends with,
I accept it all...
THERE ARE WINDING, WATERY PATHWAYS
Why are we afraid to deeply feel?
At the first shot of the hunter
many birds fall dead off
telephone wires.
Fear constricts us,
and dry pebbles fall from our lips
to break the empty water glasses of children.
But there is a secret stream
which laughs always,
through day and night
and brushes its soft, liquid lips
across every heart.
It courses through the tiny crevasses
of the mountains of the moon
and floods the earth with silver song.
It tumbles silently through the golden
cataracts of the sun
to wildly run its fingers
through wind tossled hair.
If it should flow through words,
they patter like flowers
thrown against drums
or sear their imprints like smoldering coals
cast upon delicate papers
in the deep heart.
And when it's time
for the spirit to arise
and journey towards heaven
with its eyes full of glad faces
and the sun,
it is on a soft path of silver waters
that the soul glides.
I SAW A NURSE WHO HELPED A MAN DIE
I saw a nurse who helped a man die,
but could not access her own grief:
She's been dying a little by degrees
for some time now
into the institutional death of professionalism.
She keeps her charts filled
as she casually drifts further
from the young, free fire of compassion
which causes all women
who hold its flame in their flesh
to weep, then laugh
and throw their wild hair back
into dark winds.
A MUSICAL DEATH WATCH
St. Charles Hospital
December 26th, 1994
I have been
with an amazing family,
who gathered together at
the deathbed of a dearly
loved woman.
It was an astonishing thing,
for they were singing
their good-byes
in celebrative hymns
--husband, children, grandchildren.
We imagined the old lady
young again,
stepping through veils
of the universe
into a beautiful world
full of bird song
and laughter.
Such miracles transpire
when love opens
imagination's eyes.
INVOCATION
In the name of all blessing
In the name of all peace
In the name of Jesus
who took the fear of death off us
In the name of absolution
In the name of coming glory...
*
REQUESTS
I am dying now...
It is time to come to peace:
say things that must be said:
give forgiveness and be forgiven,
cherish life, savior things,
tell you that I love you.
Don't be afraid,
share with me fully
the precious time
which remains.
Surround me with your love.
*
I need to know you understand
that I'm dying
and that you're going to be all right.
Come, give me your permission
so I can take this journey
with joy and peace, nothing held back.
God knows, the beauty will be great.
I won't be alone...
Surround me with your love.
BLESSINGS IN DEATH
God give you hope,
Christ is risen--
All is forgiven, just ask and believe.
The Father awaited the prodigal son;
a feast was prepared to welcome him home:
The angels are present, you're never alone.
All is forgiven
--let it go to the sky,
all anger and sorrow, all blame and regret.
God give you hope:
Christ died and has risen,
all is forgiven, just ask and believe.
As the body dies, the spirit is freed,
and with your release...
shall come beauty and peace.
BLESSINGS IN DEATH
(as a song)
God give you hope,
Christ died and is risenÉ
all is forgiven, just ask and believe.
The Father awaited the prodigal son;
a feast was prepared to welcome him home:
The angels are present, you're never alone.
All is forgiven
--let it go to the sky,
all anger and sorrow, all blame and regret.
God give you hope:
Christ died and has risen,
all is forgiven, just ask and believe.
As the body dies, the spirit is freed,
and with your release,
shall come beauty and peace.
God give you hope:
Christ died and has risen,
all is forgiven, just ask and believe.
FIRST THE NATURAL, THEN THE SPIRITUAL
How can we know inner beauty
without a telling forth of outer beauty?
One must develop a good eye and open ears
before a taste comes for sublimer things
beyond sight and hearing, when the heart
cries out to awaken.
The outer beauty sometimes fades
as a value in the mind
as inner beauty grows
in preparation for the big death
when the whole soul slips out
into the essence of beauty.
WHEN I TAKE MY IDENTITY
When I take my identity
from the world
and all I project upon it from my own heart
I am lost
in the land of masks.
But when I know who I am
by the words of God
which come to me
in epiphanies of spirit
and in choices of faith,
then my heart opens
to the whole green-growing process
of becoming a man
with a substantial face
who can gaze right through
the empty eyes of masks
into the eyes of beauty
hidden within eyes.
WE ARE HERE TO SING SOUL PEACE
We are here to sing soul peace
over the dying person
and the beloved
watchers
and all the lovers and friends
who are gathered
in the name of the Holy Maker,
and the beautiful angels
who gather pilgrims
in their loving arms
and carry them safely
across dark seas
into the land
of deathless love.
WORDS OF GENTLE LEADING
May our words be leading
the parting soul safely
across hidden waters
and past life's horizons
with a strong company of angels,
and the beloved greeters
who love you,
in the cherishing
of the Holy Maker
who pardons all your trespasses
through sorrows and misgivings:
by the pouring out of His life blood,
in the receiving of His graces
in boundless mercies and unearnable blessings,
to receive you safely
into a world where there is no pain
nor any parting,
and every good-bye
you have spoken in love
shall become a joyous greeting
in a short matter of time,
in a short matter of time.
GOD GRANT YOU A BLESSED DEATH
God grant you a death
in the joy of this departing
to lands of boundless joy.
God wrap you in arms
of the love of all loves.
Be now in the warm arms
of the Mother of all motherhood,
the Father of all kind fathers.
Christ has called you
unto a perfect grace
which cleanses every wound
lessens each sorrow,
diffuses all anger,
soothes away pain.
Be now in the melting of all hardness,
in the full flood of sorrow's tears.
The God of life who has given you life
is calling you home.
He is above you
and below you,
to each side,
His arms beneath you,
His eyes upon you.
You are in His mind...
and He is perfect peace.
God grant to you a luminous death
in the bathing of His pool,
in the flowing of his waters,
in the breezes of His spirit,
in the safety of His cherishing.
Amen.
God grant to you a luminous death
in the bathing of His
bright pool,
in the flowing of his
clear waters,
in the breezes of His
fresh spirit,
in the safety of His
gentle cherishing.
Amen.
DEATH IS A LOSS AND SACRIFICE
(A Death Watch Chant)
Death is a loss and a sacrifice;
through it we're gathered
to the bosom of God.
It's needful to mourn,
for it's painful to part
from all that we love
with our body and heart.
But with our acceptance
comes the release
into new worlds
of beauty and peace.
RIDING THE BLACK HORSE
You must ride the black horse
into the night
beneath the trees
of cawing crows;
only the black horse
can lead to the light:
where it gallops
no one knows.
The rider, blindfolded,
enveloped in pain,
spurs the black stallion on,
though others may think
that the rider's insane,
he is galloping into the dawn.
A THIRST FOR LIFE
What is there to fear?
Only unloving things perish.
And our parting from those we have loved
is brief, and shall lead
to a joyous union again.
Now let your spirit fly away
into the land of love
and clear thinking.
THIS VISION OF THE BEAUTY OF DYING
The vision of the beauty of dying
is born in the full joy
of the wonder of living.
TERMINAL ENDINGS
The Bridegroom touches
an old woman.
A child Bride awakens inside.
The Bridegroom's shadow
passes over her.
A young beauty
arises from old bones.
DYING
(needs more work...)
Lying down
on a huge white breast
the soul sinks
into a primal rest.
It is an ever young breast
riding high and soft.
The soul sweetly sinks
as the body drops off.
Someone said that death
is our last great fear--
its not hard to die
when the Beloved one's near!
But the body but rarely
shall easily yield,
nor does weakness
quickly swallow up
the last tenacious strength:
We flounder and shout
and helplessly sink
into the breadth and length
of a boundless love
which has always been our Life of life,
(how slowly does the soul
become another One's wife).
*
Another walks beside us
holding our bridal dress;
another One mourns
in our distress;
another One laughs
and in compassion cries,
as another One rises
while this one dies.
*
Lying down on a huge white breast
the soul sinks
into a primal rest.
WHO CAN VISIT THE STOREHOUSE OF GRIEF?
Who can visit the storehouse of grief?
Those sullen rooms
growing slowly dim with death,
and then again... touch a familiar wall
and lightning flashes,
touch a heirloom chair
and shudder with remorse.
Family pictures are falling off the walls;
Grandma's chinaware keeps crashing down.
The tarnished mirrors of our rooms
glimmer with beautiful images
of soft hair, kind eyes, and smiles.
There are gray clouds
that unexpectedly spoil a picnic,
drifting from sad places
on dark winds...
moving through our dreams.
Some old fairy tales say
that we must be fully shattered
in chaos
to undo chaos.
This must be madness!
An old wive's tale.
Who would chose such a journey
to places of pain
in an age of advanced medications?
Yet, in this place alone
is that piano there,
that painter's pallet
this writer's desk,
and a back door which opens
to let sunshine splash through
onto a familiar face
and soft wind caress
a beloved one's hair.
A SEASON OF GRIEVING
There is a lean barrenness
in which words will not come:
It is the shadow side of love;
it is the grief of death.
There are seasons
when stiff, unfeeling branches
scratch listlessly
at a dull sky.
The soul slowly rolls up upon itself,
like a bear in hibernation,
to sleep with a tangle of briers
stuck in its belly.
Somewhere, outside
dense granite walls...
life passes by.
THERE IS A LUMINOUS DEATH
There is a luminous death
where all anger is dissolved
in the blue beauty of the skies
and in those brisk winds
which move in a definition
of perfect freedom.
I wish you peace
in God's unfathomable love...
which is like a rose fragrance
in the morning sky.
There is a luminous peace
in a deathless hope,
in the sure knowledge
that as Christ arose from the dead
by the power of God's compassion,
I too shall arise
young, wise, and beautiful,
for I am wrapt in His unfailing mercies.
I wish you peace
in God's unfathomable peace
which flows as the clenched fists of the soul
relax and open unto the softness
of God's breath passing through the heart.
Remember now how a tight rose bud
is slowly loosened by the green surge of life,
then, yielding in its perfect time,
opens its velvet tenderness
to the sun's warmth.
I wish you freedom from fear
and all bitter constrictions
for the sake of God and all who love you
and wish your full beauty
to come now, in the hour
of your birth.
*
It is time for you to realize that all is forgiven,
and that all hard lessons
of human suffering in an unjust world,
(this school of sin and love),
are completed in your embracing
of God's perfect forgiveness.
*
I wish you peace
in God's unfathomable compassions
that being gathered in unearnable graces
you might open unto a luminous death
and a good journey home.
WORDS IN TWO LANGUAGES FOR DYING AND LIVING
(Snippets from Pablo Neruda)
Tu alma es desnuda y simple,
delgada como la luna,
minima, transparente, redonda--
pero eres enorme y rosada
con un verano de oro en sus ojos.
Your soul is naked and simple,
slender like the moon,
minimal, transparent, round--
but you are spacious and rosy
with a summer of gold in your eyes.
*
Tu belleza y tu pobreza...
las llaves son en tu boca,
palabres de fe y amor
son en tu boca.
Your beauty and your poverty...
the keys are in your mouth,
words of faith and love
are in your mouth.
*
La luz de fuego
es el resplandor de amor
y un sol dieron a tu sentidos.
The light of fire
is the splendor of love
and a sun poured in my senses.
*
Nadie, nadie puede evadir
los pasos del corazon.
No one--no one--
can evade the passings
of the heart.
*
Tu buscas por otro mundo
donde el dolor no crece;
un tierra de un luz dulce,
de un estacion abierta:
una tierra del luz de primavera.
You look for another world
where pain does not grow;
a land of a sweet light,
of an open season:
a land of the light of spring.
*
Sentir la suavidad
de amor in muerte.
Quiero qe vivas
mientras por tu. Yo espero!
huelas el aroma del mar
en un tierra de luz dulce.
To feel the softness
of love in death.
I want to live
waiting for you. I hope!
smelling the aroma
of the sea in a land
of sweet light.