THERE IS A RICHNESS OF VISION
WHICH GROWS
#1
Poetry by Blake Steele
starting April 1993
INDEX
A...
ABOUT ANIMAL PRAYER AND COINCEDINCES
1. THE BIRDS
AND THE DARKNESS HATES THE LIGHT...
(TO THOSE WHO WILL NOT LIE)
ALL THE LIFE
AWAKENING THE WILD CHILD
B...
BLESSED ARE THE FEATHER GATHERERS!
C...
CAN WE THINK MUCH ABOUT LIFE WITHOUT LOVING IT?
"COME, I AM THE JOURNEY," HE CRIED.
WE MADE HIM DOGMA!
CONCERNING, MATERIALISTIC PROSPERITY,
WAR, PERSECUTION AND OTHER
CALAMITIES
D...
DUALITY
E...
EDEN - B.C.
F...
FIRST THE NATURAL, THEN THE SPIRITUAL
FROM ISAIAH 62:5
FROM ISAIAH 61:8 *
FROM THE ELECTRIC WILDNESS
G...
GOD IS WAITING FOR US
H...
HOLY CREATION WAS IN A TRANCE
HOLY FAITH
I...
I AM HE WHO WAITS TO GREET YOU WHEN YOU WAKE UP
IT WILL BE AN ENCHANTMENT SO GREAT
J...
JUDGEMENT (A Comment On Isaiah 66)
K...
KISS AN IGNORANT STONE
O...
ON A TRANSDOCTRINAL RECEPTION OF CHRIST
ON BEING STRANGE CLAY BEINGS: LATERNS OF THE DIVINE
ON CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL GROWTH
ON LETTING GOD REMAIN GOD
OPEN THE DOOR TO THE SPONTANIOUS CHILD
P...
POST MELLINIAL MEMORIES
POST MELLINIAL MEMORIES
R...
REALITY IS SIGNIFIED...
REBEL AGAINST THE SHALLOW, PRETTY PEOPLE!
RELIGIOUS TRAPS I.
S...
SEPERATING THE PRECIOUS FROM THE VILE
SOMEONE HAS FAILED TO OPEN THE HOMEWARD WAY
T...
TAKE TIME TO DREAM GOD'S DREAM *
THE AUTHOR OF OUR FAITH SPEAKS ABOUT OUR FAITH
THE FATHOMLESS DEPTHS
THE GOLDEN NAME OF A GOLDEN DREAM
THERE IS A HIDDEN FEAST
THERE IS A QUIET SEER
THERE IS A RICHNESS OF VISION WHICH GROWS
THREE MIRROR POEMS
TRANQUILIZING GOD
TRUE BAPTISM *
TWO WORLDS
U...
UPON ISAIAH 61:3
UPON THE RUDDY ROSE OF LIQUID GLASS
W...
WALKING SERAPHIM
WE HAVE CHAINED GOD'S WORD IN DOGMA
WE LIVE IN A GREATNESS NOT OUR OWN
WHEN I FORGIVE MYSELF FOR CHRIST'S SAKE I.
WHEN I FORGIVE MYSELF FOR CHRIST'S SAKE II.
WHAT IS POETRY?
WHERE IS THE HIGH LORD?
51 poems ?
Last Poem in file: CAN WE THINK MUCH ABOUT LIFE
WITHOUT LOVING IT?
------------------------------------------------------------
THERE IS A RICHNESS OF VISION WHICH GROWS
There is a richness of vision which grows
as the heart softens, as the mind opens.
"Grow into a better vision," God seems to say,
"And...play in it!"
Jesus came.
The man stood like a flame of God,
His eyes clear with the clarity
of His own Spirit.
God shone through!
Everybody saw it,
(though not all believed,
even then in the light.)
Still, grace and truth flooded out!
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is
is spontaneity of outflow."
So said St. Paul,
though translators missed the implications.
"And Wisdom played in the earth," was an old
Jewish proverb.
Here wisdom stood as a full and free man:
He shone with the light that births and becomes
and bore His freedom like a lover should.
His words were to the souls and the spirit
of the people
when He worked to illuminate the people.
But when He was alone,
(I believe this in my heart),
He bellowed his words, and roared His words,
and rang and sang His words,
soaring them out to touch the stars,
until they fell back down like rain
to swallow up animals in the wilderness
with rich, honeyed light.
He spoke in the night to the fish of the darkened sea,
and their scales glistened with His voice.
Glimmering fish sang silently His silvery words
in the morning's first light
as they were gathered into nets.
And their words to the fishermen were,
"Sons of men, you are loved!"
Even as the fish were gutted
and thrown roughly on the decks,
the light of His voice still shown
through their pearl-like eyes.
*
Everything was then a flaming word of this man's Word
in a richness of vision which grew
as hearts softened, as minds opened.
And for those who could see it,
for a brief season
all common things shouted and danced!
THE AUTHOR OF OUR FAITH SPEAKS ABOUT OUR FAITH
Do not let religion shield the truth of you
from me.
Doctrines are doors.
Can you pass through them?
Let me believe in you.
ON CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL GROWTH
How shall we imprison the life of our Lord?
Ignore Him. Ignore Him.
And how shall we loose the rivers of His Love?
Adore Him. Adore Him!
We must yield ourselves: all our light and all our darkÑ
do not fear, He will hold us!
Be sure we are known, loved and cherished
as we open our hearts to the risen Christ.
All feelings which deny the freedom of truth
come from the force of our alienation.
Listen with care to the voice which heals us
and unfold in waves of elation.
*
Step aside, and let Christ through
in everything you dream and do.
FIRST THE NATURAL, THEN THE SPIRITUAL
One must develop a good eye and open ears
before a taste comes for sublime things
beyond sight and hearing, when the heart
cries out to awaken.
Outer beauty sags and fades
in countless small deaths
as inner beauty grows
in preparation for the big death
when the whole soul slips out
into the essence of beauty.
REALITY IS
SIGNIFIED...
There is a
transcendent wonder
everywhere we
turn:
the worm,
twirling in its brown hole;
the ruby
headed sparrow on a twig;
the gray
mouse atwitter in the grass;
the prowling
cat, with candle-lit eyes at dusk:
each drinking
essences of what they are
through roots
sunk into the Light of existence,
the Source of
earth and shimmering stars.
What does
each signify?
the
philosopher cries.
An immutable
resplendence beyond themselves
the prophets
reply.
THERE IS A QUIET SEER
(A meditation upon the philosophy of Heschel)
There is a quiet seer
who gazes at the seer.
The gazed at seer
most often grows undazzled by the act of seeing,
being too enmeshed in the unconscious act
of memory recall
and interpretation.
The ineffable becomes an image
with which, in our developing judgment,
we are familiar.
This image is in the gazed at seer,
being a miraculous mental reproduction
of the unknown reality
within which
the ever silent seer
who gazes at the gazed at seer
lives in ecstasies
so great
as to have rendered
it dumb.
ON A
TRANSDOCTRINAL RECEPTION OF CHRIST
How shall we
receive Christ?
Receive one
child
in free
spirited and holy love
and behold,
Christ is there!
And the
infinite, ineffable
glory of the
Maker is there!
(From Mark
9:37)
WE HAVE
CHAINED GOD'S WORD IN DOGMA
"Fire
goes before Him
and burns up
His adversaries round about."
Psalm 97:3
"He
comes to drench you in the Holy Spirit
and in
Fire," John said.
"He
shall cleanse his winnowing floor,
and gather
the wheat into God,
and burn up
chaff with fire that canÕt be quenched.
(The children
hand out little paper flames
to the
congregation.)
Jesus said,
"...Cut
off hands, pluck out eyes
enter life or
enter the trash heapÕs fires
where worms
don't die,
where fire
isn't quenched."
And the next
verse, (an ignored quote):
"EVERYONE shall be salted with fire..."
Have the salt
(of fire) in yourselves
and live in
peace with each other."
Everyone
baptized in Gehenna's fires?
The Holy
Spirit the salt of fire,
the fire of
Hell?
Gehenna now?
Gehenna burning up the trash,
incinerating
the chaff?
Misinterpretations? My deep soul cries No!
We must long
for the fires of Gehenna now!
How much do
we love our trash?
Will we
forever encase our living kernel
in worthless
chaff?
Let us be
salted with the consuming fire of hell now
and be free
of it forever!
The secret
stench fades away;
the grain is
ground into holy flour
and is baked
to be devoured
by GodÕs teeth.
EDEN - B.C.
(Or, I wonder
why they never thought
to simply say
I'm sorry)
God moves up
and down
in the breeze
of the day
saying,
"Adam, where are you?
The sky pours
down
its essence
of blue.
Adam is
nervously hunting,
killing
animal brothers
for their
skins.
God moves up
and down
in the lime
green breezes of the day
crying out,
"Eve,
come and let
me kiss your beautiful body
with sunshine,
let my flowers fill
your tumbling
hair."
Eve grieves
in shadows,
sewing
together her bloody clothes.
I AM HE WHO
WAITS TO GREET YOU WHEN YOU AWAKE
To known that
which we have refused to know
because of
our fear of it;
to be in
union with the unclaimed nightmare
in the
garbage dump of the spirit world
is Hell.
Hell is where
the trash is burnt up.
King David
said, "God is also in Hell."
THREE MIRROR POEMS
I.
THE DARK MIRROR
Desolate in His bitterness,
the hateful man cursed out into the dark,
"I don't believe in you God!"
And a voice echoed back,
unheard by his atrophied inner ears,
"I don't believe in you."
II.
CALLING THE MIRROR
Every moment of every day
God says, "I cherish you soul,"
and then waits, like an avid fisherman
who lets his fly drift over a likely hole
waiting for a big fish to strike,
God breathlessly anticipates
for the soul to rise and echo His voice
that God and the soul might both rejoice!
III.
THE BRIGHT MIRROR
I whispered, "I love you Lord,"
and heard my own name whispered back,
"I love you poet."
I said again, "I am for you,"
and heard back again, "And I am for you!"
My heart, feeling the boldness of love,
spoke once more,
"I will cherish and honor you my God,"
And the voice of quiet spoke a third time,
with all the authority of eternal silence,
echoing back the contents of my soul.
AND THE
DARKNESS HATES THE LIGHT...
(TO THOSE WHO
WILL NOT LIE)
Wherein is
light and shadow?
Light and
shadow lie most evidently
in the heart
of the one
who journeys
towards the city of no shadows.
And the
darkness hates the light,
though the
light loves the darkness and everything.
REBEL AGAINST
THE SHALLOW, PRETTY PEOPLE!
Strike out
against the tyranny
of the
shallow, pretty people;
the
appearances which have no soul.
Rebel against
the business of loveless beauty.
Flow
powerfully against the tide!
Let the
compassionate people
--the true
meek--
arise out of
the shadows
and serve in
clear light
God and all
beautiful goodness
which gives
the spirit life.
ON BEING
STRANGE CLAY BEINGS:
LANTERNS OF
THE DIVINE
We are made
of the dust of the earth.
We are
strange clay beings
who live:
beings who
hold the priceless miracle
of life's
consciousness.
We are clay
images
of the
boundless divineÑ
He who is
light and spirit!
He enters us
at times
like a bird,
alighting suddenly
in a tree.
The tree ecstatically shivers!
Or, again,
our clay is alit
so sublimely,
we barely know it:
Have you ever
felt sunlight moving silently
upon the open
sea?
Consciously,
or unconsciously, (no matter),
He comes!
But when Life
is poured fully into life
there must be
fire!
And, whenever
the wick burns,
Ñthe lantern
glows.
HOLY FAITH
To mourn with
a song
is the highest
expression of faith.
TWO WORLDS
We must stand
in the center
we must
stretch out our arms
into two
worlds.
Where two
worlds overlap
we are!
SEPARATING
THE PRECIOUS FROM THE VILE
We must learn
what is vain.
We must
escape the vacuous pursuit of the vain.
We must
purposefully and radically abandon the vain.
The release
slowly comes.
We become a
free people!
Look! The
vain grows precious!
ON LETTING
GOD REMAIN GOD
It is as we
learn to release,
to surrender
all to God
so that God
might remain center and source,
first love
and supreme purpose,
then we can
be entrusted with more influence,
more of the
passing, fickle,
meaningless
acclaim of humanity.
ALL THE LIFE
There is more
life than we can conceive of
in one twig
on a bush.
*
A bird lands
on the twig and sings.
The
boundaries of amazement blow out.
RELIGIOUS TRAPS I.
The refusal to spiritually grow
makes the mind like a stone.
"Write the law upon the Stone again,
to make us secure in our knowledge,"
so says the Pharisee of every age
and religious persuasion.
Paul said, "This is a ministry of death."
The glory has faded. The beauty diminished.
Yet, God grows...
When Jesus was born,
(after the star stopped shining)
he crowed out into the fields, "Joy!"
and doves flew down.
And when three years had passed,
he remained in the heat of his innocence,
"Let the fields rejoice!" his little voice
shouted,
"Let the mountains sing."
Birds hopped around his feet,
and he exuberantly scattered them into the sky.
The scribes, meanwhile, were studying things,
like what to do with blood money,
so they could teach their sons
how to use the law to crucify God
when their time came.
SOMEONE HAS FAILED TO OPEN THE HOMEWARD WAY
It is the world that is fallacious,
fabricated by humans
that have not listened to the trees
to hear their psalms;
that have not unclasped the book of the wind
nor observed the liturgy of water.
Someone has failed to open
the homeward way
and children are crying.
FROM THE ELECTRIC WILDNESS
From the electric wildness
of some little girl's hair
to the slow essence of swans
creation is speaking.
Its visible syllables
are a power
we are far too dull to
to be reckoned a sane race.
Therefore, the poet must be free
to sense and to speak.
And the poet's words
should sound something like this:
"Blue sky... Be Amazed!
Budding branch... Celebrate!
Bird on the branch...
Blow me away with Praises!"
"COME, I AM THE JOURNEY," HE CRIED.
WE MADE HIM DOGMA!
The
royal child awakes.
It is
the wonder of a singing bird
that
is a kiss of God breaking the spell of sleep.
Blessings pour in like hidden sunlight.
A
radical forgiveness starts to loose
all
powers for good.
The
Creator sings and recreates within the soul.
All created things interweave their
roots in light!
Now
Truth cries out for a beautiful justice among mankind!
Seeing
its path, the royal child is amazed and weeps;
then,
enchanted with all gifts,
ecstatically begins its compassionate journey,
loving
all vile, ugly, wounded things to their death.
GOD IS
WAITING FOR US
God is
waiting for us,
ringing His
silver chancel bells of silence,
flashing out
His light for us to see:
but we don't
see, for to see is to wonder
and we have
tragically lost our sense of wonder.
Where is our
awe and wonder?
We seek
advantage!
What of the
unspeakable gift of one word;
the
ineffability of song?
Where is the
adventure
of every
little common deed?
WE LIVE IN A
GREATNESS NOT OUR OWN
(About words
of the Word)
Everyday we
live in the presence of a greatness
not our own.
All things cry out,
"We are
the mystery
only wonder
can began to fathom.
Here is the
ecstasy of freedom
that is your
fate.
Come... and,
choose it!"
Every sparrow,
flitting with inexplicable
agility
through tangles of twigs,
is a word
that speaks, "Wonder, and....freedom."
Every tree
cries out, "Come and listen to my
heartwood.
Hear in me the sacred silence
which engulfs
your forgotten soul."
The sky pours
down drinks of blue essence.
The rain
drops its pearls upon branches.
These are
words written by a luminous finger
upon a page
of infinite dark.
These are a
love poem, saying,
"You are
the mystery that you do not know."
Have you
sensed the sun is a word?
His voice
shimmers out, "Light is Love..."
and,
"You are
all my fiery brethren."
The moon too
speaks riddles in runes
with her
silky, silver voice,
"Light
and dark, ebb and flow,
do you your
own deep psyche know?"
And the
stars...
the ancient
glittering stars are words
that subtly
sing, "We are the jewels
of the crown
which shall rest upon your hair."
*
All things
are words which mean more than they are!
BLESSED ARE
THE FEATHER GATHERERS!
An angel
flies over the earth
and shakes
her feathers in the wind.
Each bright
feather that drifts down
is a poem, or
a song for the glory of God.
How blessed
are the feather gatherers!
ABOUT ANIMAL PRAYER AND SYNCHRONISTICY
1. THE BIRDS
(From Job 38:41)
A young raven cries out,
"God, feed me."
Just then, a semi
runs over a jackrabbit on the road.
THERE IS A HIDDEN FEAST
Beyond our conceptualization of things
lies a feast.
It is the feast of the ever new
being birthed by the ultimate Being.
It is the radiance beyond our ability to see.
It is the music human ears rarely hear.
To enter the feast you must be growing
in the way of becoming
Ñit is the only door in.
(Fill your lamps,
with precious oil!)
This takes a dismantling of many concepts,
desires and defenses,
(the axe must be laid to the root of the tree).
This takes a resolving of many old grievances.
(Adam and Eve, take off your clothes and say
you are sorry!)
This takes a restructuring into a savoring of
life's spiritual essences.
(Lick your lips, wild child in the
UniverseÕs candy shop).
This takes a renunciation of life-essences to find
the One Source.
(Virgins, light up your lamps!)
This takes a releasing of the One Source to be
lost in the free Holy Being the One Source truly is.
(Upon the high mountains the lover dies into the
bridegroom's arms).
And then comes the fuller feast as God thinks us
even as we think God; as God wills us as we will God;
as God honors us as we honor God; as God blesses us
as we bless God;
Out of our innermost belly flows rapid rivers of life:
Is this what being born from above really means?
No wonder Jesus said the door into Life was narrow!
Thank God for His seeking, saving,
unspeakably spectacular, miraculous grace!
DUALITY
We live in
the silence
of the
unutterable
interplay of
harmonic energies
all of whose
roots grow ever more sublime
and
inexplicable
as they open
out
and are
swallowed up
into
ineffable radiance.
We live in
the chaos
of clashing
energies,
fields of
malicious illusions
feeding
tragic delusions,
the roots of
which grow coarser
Ñshaking, clamoring, breaking apartÑ
plunging down
into the intensifying compression
of the
spawning abyss of discordant dark.
JUDGEMENT (A
Comment On Isaiah 66)
And the holy
hand of God shall be known
as blooming
in the bones
or a menacing
within the manacled mind.
OH BRIDE OF
MY HEART," HE SIGHS
"Let Him
kiss me
With the
kisses of His mouth,
That I might
awaken to sing!"
she cries in
her distress.
Oh Bride of
My Heart," He sighs,
"I am always
kissing you.
Learn how to
make My truth beautiful."
UNDERNEATH
THE HUMAN FRAILTIES
SOMETHING
TRUE COMES SHINING
(To a Lilly)
Certain souls
sparkle with it,
a quirky kind
of thing to some,
more like
water falls
and the free
flowing waves of wind to others.
Leaping out
into an event
beyond the
boarders of self
an unique
moment of full life is born.
I believe
that when you stir your tea,
whirlpools
suck old ships down into the sea,
and that when
you crinkle your eyes and smile
lions who
where sleeping under trees
in another
world
bound up to
dance with gazelles
in yellow
grasses.
*
You know who
you are.
You've worn a
cross around your neck
Ñthough
haven't known the meaning.
Will you grow
to realize
what your
precious things are,
and how to
love them?
*
Why is it
that you feel like my own sister,
like my
laughing soul,
like myself
with breasts?
*
I write to
you what you will never know,
that I love
you from a great distance
because I
have seen
in you
the eyes of a
free people.
HOLY CREATION WAS IN A TRANCE
Holy creation was in a trance
until we poured our souls to the sky
and down upon stones
to let them sink into earth.
When we became true,
clear thoughts rang out
of our minds like bells
to resonate within
the glassy foundations of God.
And the Lord came, even as His people
had long dreamt it would be!
Then a throng, painted like the birds of Brazil
and clothed in feathers,
danced out of every tree
as clouds shape-shifted into white horses!
And souls melted into a liquid tenderness
and ascended to the blue skies
to ride great energetic winds to the north
and to the south singing prophecies
until from the east golden souls came
and fell upon the western world
as bright, white tears amidst ebony rain.
And the earth drank up our souls at last
into its somber, grieving bosom,
then spilled us out of bright fountain heads
so that we might bound naked
and laughing down to the foam of the sea
to murmur there awhile around barnacles and fish
--until, simmered in the sun,
we arose together naturally, laughing our prayers
all over the skies.
*
Ah, my love-drunk bride, wasn't it wondrous beyond words
when our free souls first circulated
in the sweet solvent of EarthÕs Spirit
until GodÕs sleeping Soul blushed itself awake.
AWAKENING THE WILD CHILD
Leap a little, do a bit of an Irish jig,
perhaps every day,
perhaps while standing in line at the Post Office.
No, because you read it from my mind,
do something different, something fresh
on your own:
like singing opera at the gym
during a "serious work out",
or walking down the isles at the supermarket
playing a harmonica, smiling at everyone.
If you are a woman, do something wild
and Lilly-like every day:
like giving a purple or golden scarf
to an old woman in a nursing home
and fashioning flowers into her hair...
or, out-crazying the children,
riding their makeshift pulley out to the stars.
If you are a man, do a prophetical act everyday:
like running out of the office
and digging your hands into the earth,
rubbing it into your face.
Then wash the dirt into the bathroom sink
as you hum sea chanteys
and spit into the waste basket,
rubbing your cheek where a beard should be,
and speaking like a pirate into the mirror,
telling all God's invisible warriors
that you would pour your blood out upon a stone
for one whiff of the fragrance
of a wild woman's spirit,
and that you would just as well grasp wind or fire
as that lady's freedom.
KISS AN IGNORANT STONE
Kiss an ignorant stone until God's kiss
comes through your lips.
Perhaps the Stone shall burst into flame
and shine with blinding radiance.
Pour out your white seed into deep, still pools.
Watch the water-lizards creep forth to eat it.
See, the lizards shine like jewels!
TRANQUILIZING GOD
When did we tranquilize God,
and lock that wild one up in religious museums
Ñcaging him in quilted zoos?
WHERE IS THE HIGH LORD?
Where is the High Lord?
Perhaps out in the wilderness
with the wild deer and birds.
Perhaps standing in a rain storm
with wolves and elk.
WHAT IS POETRY?
What is Poetry?
Creative Communion with Essences
and Substance.
OPEN THE DOOR TO THE SPONTANIOUS CHILD
"Open the door to the spontaneous child,"
cried a bird passing over head.
The scholarly man gazed into the white sky
and saw nothing.
"Open the door to the wild child!"
the bird cried out again.
Startled, the man spoke back,
"And where shall I find this child?Ó
"Beneath the waters that run
through every seasons of the year,
and down amidst the ashes, underneath the stones,"
came the answer.
"And where are these waters to be found,
and what the ashes, and where the stones?"
shouted the man, lifting his hands to the sky.
The air stung him with its silence...
IT WILL BE AN ENCHANTMENT SO GREAT
When the Lord comes
it will be an enchantment so great
as to break all lesser spells.
Mystery and beauty will make all things
in creation radiate
with a wild, white light!
Seraphim shall sing in unknown languages.
Everyone shall recognize their own song
which shall sound like a mother's lullaby
sung by a warrior's tongue!
TAKE TIME TO DREAM GOD'S DREAM
Take time to dream God's dream.
It is not enough to study it,
nor to memorize it.
Take time to see it in your mind's eye.
Dream it a little while.
Lay back your head into the clouds of it.
Can you see all the Earth at rest and singing?
Can you see glory and beauty everywhereÑ
every soul wise and radiant with love?
Can you see the lame leaping, the blind seeing?
Can you see a world without sickness or tragedy?
Imagine all animals loving each other
and wild beasts playing with children.
Imagine the elderly dying at 200 years old
with their minds clear and their eyes bright.
Can you see the skies opening with angels singing
divine essences in wild song?
Can you see loveÕs Light shining out of every tree,
every wall, every tool, home, face, stone?
*
Take time. Shuh... Dream it a little while.
Listen for the music you can see...
THE GOLDEN NAME OF A GOLDEN DREAM
(Comments on how we must grow)
There is one who has an unknowable name.
It is written upon him by God's finger.
It is inscribed in his soul.
It is a golden name; part of a golden dream.
It is written with mysterious letters on a crown
which is hidden in an old wooden chest in a dark closet.
God has a dream.
You are part of his dream.
God has an unknown name.
You are part of His unknown name.
But God has a name, you say,
and you understand it well,
and, you have a name
and know who you are...
Remember that old closet door
you haven't opened since childhood?
Wasn't it down in your basement?
Yes, that's the one:
the closet that is filled with black widow spiders.
Open that closet, shine away spiders,
open it child, peer into the chest.
Now then, who are you?
FROM ISAIAH 61:8
Let us not rob God in the burnt offering.
There is a holy passion that must be lit
in the human heart.
There is a fire that burns
in a deathless land,
burning upon an altar which spans
a beautiful pool.
Seek the still pool of God.
See, it is luminous!
You may wash in it
and weep there if you like
because the beauty is so great!
Only naked children may lie down
upon this altar of God.
Only awakened ones.
There the One flame burns for One Essence
and the Soul makes love to God.
*
Let us not rob God in the burnt offering!
TRUE BAPTISM
May we wash in the luminous pool
of God's dream.
May we be immersed not into a religion
but into a holy dream
and fall back naked
into the dreamer.
UPON ISAIAH 61:3
Let us dig in the ash pit,
and find gardenias
which we can string together
into a garland of great beauty.
To the one who reverently puts this garland
over their head
golden songs leap down out of the night
into their minds.
FROM ISAIAH 62:5
When we cease grieving the clean,
free spirit of God
and breathe Her in,
and breathe Him out:
God will burst forth and dance
with the fierce exaltation of a bridegroom
over the bridal us,
around the bridal us,
under the bridal us,
through the bridal us...
And our words shall gleam with pearl light
and heal,
glimmering upon the
treasures of the soul.
THE FATHOMLESS DEPTHS
Oh, the fathomless depths
of the fathomless sea
aren't half as fathomless
as fathomless me.
Do you think it's presumption?
Do you think it untrue?
Than fathom the depths
of the fathomless you!
UPON THE RUDDY ROSE OF LIQUID GLASS
God needs our blooming of consciousness
upon the fathomless depths of the unconscious.
It is the ruddy rose of liquid glass
opening in golden light on blue shade.
It is the nameless God welling forth to be named by love.
It is the Creator creating Himself in His creation
through the adoration of His creatures.
It is His Love. Her Love. Their Love.
It is the consummation of the primal rose of holiest love:
the flowing, living-crystal
slowly bubbling up through a stem of light,
driven by divine desiring,
drawn forth by the melting of creatures.
It is the ruddy rose of liquid glass
pouring into clay, brimming out of human eyes,
flowing as bread, crystallizing into wine
through words.
WALKING SERAPHIM
There are some women
Ñrare as blue horsesÑ
who burn with life,
who emit sparks,
whose words ricochet around the room.
You may ask them a simple question
and their spirits quiver, then suddenly expand
far beyond the boundaries of their bodies
like tidal surges,
like thunderous waves of green water and foam,
flushing away all grayness,
washing concrete down drains.
POST MILLENNIAL MEMORIES
Remember my love,
how that when the kingdom first came upon earth
we walked along the lakeshore, speaking beauty,
while angels swung overhead singing.
Remember how we laid down naked in the meadows
to murmur awhile in love's music
while the angels laughed
and swarmed above us like swallows,
doing swift acrobatics in the luminous air.
WHEN I FORGIVE MYSELF FOR CHRIST'S SAKE I.
When I forgive myself for Christ's sake
that I might dwell in the nearness of His near,
a yellow lily sinks in gray waters
and makes the waters clear.
WHEN I FORGIVE MYSELF FOR CHRIST'S SAKE II.
When I forgive myself for Christ's sake
angels swarm like swallows singing,
which sets the lower vales to ringing,
"Alleluia! Let Christ be born of Mary
within her second sanctuary."
CONCERNING, MATERIALISM,
WAR, PERSECUTION AND OTHER CALAMITIES
We are something transparent,
that often wears a pale mask of the moon by day,
a burning mask of the sun by night.
CAN WE THINK MUCH ABOUT LIFE WITHOUT LOVING IT?
Have we willed it, birthed it,
created or conceived it?
Have we known, drunk,
bought or burnt with it?
Have we ever desired it
without it first desiring us?
I mean the luminous pool of it.
I mean the quick-silk of the river of it.
I mean the liquid flame of it.
I mean the opening rose of glass.