WONDER

 

                    Filed opened, 4/16/94

 

                    Poetry Index

                    A...

                    A DREAM AMONGST DREAMS

                    AFTER THE THIRD FLOWER'S GIVEN

                    ANOTHER DAY

                    A POET MUST FIGHT TO TRUST HIS MEANING

                    A PRAYER FOR OUR ART

                    AFTER A SHEKINAH IN CHURCH

                    AT THE LIP OF A NEW VENTURE - A FRESH

                              TRANSFORMATION

                    AWE AND COMPASSION

 

                    C...

                    CARRIED BY THE WIND AND MOON AWAY

                    COMBINING THE TWO ELEMENTS OF DREAMS

 

                    F...

                    FELLOWSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH

                    FRAGMENT FROM A LETTER TO BRIAN

 

                    G...

                    GOD'S OWN DANCE SHALL SAVE THE WORLD

 

                    I...

                    INITIATION - EASTER AFTERMATH - 1994

 

                    L...

                    LIMITS AND NO LIMITS

 

                    M...

                    MORE REFLECTIONS FROM THE EYES OF THE HEART

 

                    N...

                    NEW CREATION

 

                    O...

                    ONE CHILD STANDING AT THE TURNING OF THE AGES

                    ON THE HOLY FOOL

                    ON THE MAJOR DISCIPLINES OF ART

 

                    R...

                    REAL WHOLENESS

                    REDEEMING A PICTURE OF BEAUTY

                    REGATHERING

                    REPOSE

 

                    T...

                    THE DEEP MOVES SLOWLY...

                    THERE IS

                    THREE BRAIDED CHORDS

                    THREE METAPHORS OF WHAT WE ARE

                    TO THE PURE, ALL IS PURE

                    TWO SPECIES

 

                    W...

                    WE LIVE WITHIN TWO WORLDS

                    WHEN THE LORD ASCENDED ON HIGH

                    WITHIN GOD'S OWN SWEET PASSION'S YEARNING

                    WORDS THAT CAME IN A DREAM

 

 

                    Last poem: AFTER THE THIRD FLOWER'S GIVEN

 

 

 

 

                    A PRAYER FOR OUR ART

 

                    Let our art, in the gracious goodness

                    of our Lord and in the expansive wonders

                    of His domain,

                    attain to such clarity and color,

                    such simple luminosity,

                    such rich texture of soul,

                    such groundedness in the earth,

                    (let the trees and the rocks sing),

                    such flight of spirit in the heavens,

                    (fluid with wind and wings),

                    such holy powers of expression,

                    that it pierces every human heart with light!

                    Let our art, in the gracious goodness

                    of our Lord and in the expansive wonders

                    of His domain,

                    attain to such a love of all Creation

                    for the great Maker's sake,

                    that there be no end to its creative diversities

                    in a constant renewal of inspired illuminations.

 

 

 

 

 

                    THREE BRAIDED CHORDS

 

                    Meister Eckhart, through night and day,

                    leads the mind to its fuller way;

                    old man Heschel, seizing plunder,

                    unveils the treasure chest of wonder;

                    and Francis, merciful and free,

                    reveals a singing poverty!

                    Each saint bears a gift to give

                    which in its force is purgative,

                    enhancing each a vital part

                    of the green and growing heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         AFTER A SHEKINAH IN CHURCH

 

                         As the people pour the power

                         of the Spirit out

                         in praise and love,

                         a sweetness fills the air

                         as a soft, white cloud appears

                         just beyond the range of sight.

                         The whole room is alive with God!

                                   *

                         How then shall it be

                         when all people

                         let God's fluid love

                         pour through them

                         into every canyon, upon every hill

                         and over the wild seas

                         of Earth?

 

 

 

 

 

                         AWE AND COMPASSION

                         (Two covenants)  

 

                         1.

 

                         First, a common bush at Horeb burned

                         and a voice spoke, "Do not come near!

                         Remove the sandals from your feet

                         for the place you are standing

                         is Holy ground."

                         Then, the next time around,

                         an entire mountain burned.

                         And the voice came with trumpets

                         which were so loud that a whole nation trembled

                         and stood afar off.

                         Moses alone was called up into the smoke and fire.

 

                         2.

 

                         First, the Son of God

                         burned with purity, his fierce dignity

                         clothed in the rough spun clothes

                         of the poor. Light shone!

                         And He said, "Come unto me

                         all you who are heavy laden..."

                         And every place they stood with Him

                         was Holy ground.

                         Then, many people burned

                         and their voices were like trumpets

                         sounding in many tongues

                         which grew so loud the whole world was called near.

                         And all the people went up into clouds

                         one by one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                    WHEN THE LORD ASCENDED ON HIGH

 

                    When the Lord ascended on high Creation bowed down

                    and adored. Who could resist the sight of the

                    Lord's splendor shining in the face of the risen

                    Christ? Pan and all his host worshiped. The fairy's

                    danced in rings of delight. Gnomes rattled their

                    bones in slow gnome dances beneath the earth. Tree

                    Sprites drew up watery joy from the deep and spewed

                    it into the shimmering sky. Plant angels, rock

                    angels, sea angels, sky angels praised with fervent

                    delight, for they believed that this was the

                    beginning of that holy dream of God the prophets

                    had dreamt: lions lying down with lambs, leopards

                    sleeping amidst the deer.

                   

                    But man was not ready to understand the works of

                    the Most High, nor to embrace His freedom. So they

                    divided up powers of authority, built institutions,

                    invented and emphasized sacred rituals to sanctify

                    and solidify a priesthood's control and thereby

                    took terrible truth from the people.

                   

                    Set free from the fear of death and enslavement to

                    the dark predatory powers innately woven into the

                    elements, these people of the new light never

                    turned back in the great powers of Holy Love to

                    bless and loose Creation into God's freedom. But

                    they used their energies to invent machines and

                    systems and worshiped the works of their hands.

                    Instead of simplicity and wonder, comfort and

                    profit became the bywords. They plundered Creation

                    and turned the mysterious soul of man itself into a

                    commodity.

                   

                    The system sucked life out of all things and filled

                    its greatest servants with vast powers of

                    corruption. But the Lord was not without his

                    witnesses! The Spirit of God circulated through

                    the shadows of the age. Candles were lit in human

                    hearts, small, communal bonfires sprang up in the

                    night. Through pain and sorrow children of the

                    Spirit were born and strove to know that to fully

                    sing truth they must pour God's luscious light out

                    freely upon all living things.

                   

                    Birds felt the praises of God and drew near to

                    sing. Weary trees adored and quivered from their

                    roots to the tips of their twigs with slow

                    ecstasies of life. The mountains skipped like rams,

                    the little hills like lambs, as the light of the

                    Kingdom grew, here a little, there a little,

                    growing, growing, growing on, until all the

                    crumbling forces of corruption were powerless to

                    resist!

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         CARRIED BY THE WIND AND MOON AWAY

 

                         When I was but a tiny boy,

                         I was carried by the wind and moon away,

                         to where my joy they did destroy

                         before I had begun the play.

 

                         And so, I grew into a lad

                         who--carried by the wind and moon away--

                         remained half mad with sorrows, sad

                         and shadowed by the light of day.

 

                         Then I married, and both, it seemed,

                         were carried by the wind and moon away

                         into a dark we never dreamt

                         could be... and yet it sadly seemed

                         both light and dark all mixed with gray

                         --more grieved was I than I could say.

 

                         Through death I birthed a song well pleased

                         to be carried by the wind and moon away,

                         and be sung by birds in distant trees

                         with words which only birds can say.

                                        *

                         A song is such as lives forever,

                         to make the little children play,

                         though flesh shall fail, a song fails never...

                         through carried by the wind and moon away.

 

 

 

 

                         WITHIN GOD'S OWN SWEET PASSION'S YEARNING

 

                         Within God's own sweet passion's yearning

                         springs forth a hot and holy burning

                         heat upon each hidden seed

                         encased within its dark of need.

                         And there God broods and bakes and warms,

                         softening seed's hard fear of harm

                         until they crack and open wide:

                         Behold, a floral flame inside!