Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Two for Rachael

(at about age 4, in Sapphic verse-meter – sung and choreographed accordingly)

Innocently gazing with wide-eyed wonder,
Soft now, sweet breath, why tear my heart asunder?
Graceful child your form speaks of sweet surrender
Cradled in my arms.

Part now, daughter into your mother's summer,
Let her sing you soothe you into a slumber;
Always there remains between us a glimmer
Of love remembered.

Rachael, Rachael! tirelessly I hold you
In my heart by whose vision I behold you,
Seeing you in all children as I've told you –
Season by season.

(photo @ ca. one year)


(specifically on the occasion of her 7th birthday)

Rachael the beloved        tender of flocks        herself a lamb . . .
The Rachael I know was born in a spasm of light and soft quietude.
            Her open beauty revealed an impish charm.
The Rachael I know eats ice-cream 'til it runs, and dances on the rug,
            showing off.
The Rachael I know is shy until she giggles and tells you what she knows.
The Rachael I know swings at playgrounds and whispers to her friends
            at lunchtime in a jumper.
The Rachael I know is growing up as sure as sand in spinach
            and blossoming like a Rocky Mountain Columbine
                   in the pure air of a high pasture.
Rachael the woman is yet to come        and where's the hurry . . .
Let her heart be kind, her smile warm, her touch
           enough to make anyone kiss her fingers and leave
                  with generosity on his lips . . .

let her be a happy girl, a healthy and inquisitive girl,
     let her face be always, please always, her own face.

O Rachael, your birthday is my birthday!

 (photo @ ca. age 14)

Zu Eurer Hochzeit, auf Sapphische Strophe

Zu Eurer Hochzeit, auf Sapphische Strophe

Kátarzýna mít der Anná gebúnden,
Íhr habt Eúch dreizéhn Jahre her gefúnden;
Lásst Euch éndlich áll das erwártet múnden:
Gánz miteinánder.

Hánd in Hánd hab' ích Euch wohl blüh'nd geséhen,
Dúrchaus klár in Eúch, veréidigt geschéhen;
Líebe gílt für áll die vier Jáhreszéiten,
Gánz für einánder.


(For Your Wedding, in Sapphic Meter)

Katarzyna with Anna bonded,
Thirteen years ago you found your way to each other;
Let yourselves finally savor all that you've awaited:
Totally with one another.

Hand in hand I saw you so radiant,
Thoroughly clear in yourselves, sworn, done;
Love applies for all the four seasons,
Totally for each other.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Why Do These Tears Fall Suddenly Now

You are as a brother to me,
and it pleases me to love you as one,
you tirelessly post statements, I send you poetry,
both of us are serving Hanuman.

I feel so internally this bond, HD,
why else should this verse interrupt me at prayer!
I know this eternally between two such as we,
I stop at merging, the better to behold your face the more.

Sitting with you alone, on this ancient temple ground,

our inner ear full of the sacred timeless Sound –
our outer ear bombarded by chattering monkeys all around.

I am absorbed as are you; I could embrace,
draw the world into my bosom like Amma –
or a mother hen, as Jesus lamented Jerusalem;
I could outrun horses with Jap Sahib on my lips,
sword at my hip, in the service of Gobind Singh.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Devotion

Don't come to prayers clothed with piety,
leave your plans and your banality!
Do you want to bore the Beloved to death
with all your pre-digested litany?

Don't pranam out of bland formality,
save the salaams and all your solemnity –
if your heart is not aching for love in depth,
then dance, dance till you drop this charade of "I"...!

Come naked, come with open hands,
come only with your desire, only that, and
all your most awake attention – give breath
to your words, infuse the silence with expression!

Just don't fall asleep during japa or zikr – don't zombie out!
I know what I'm talking about, I've done it a thousand times.





Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Breath of Buddha, Breath of Christ

As Christmas Approaches: The Breaths

Friends, readers, browsers: this is to be put to use and it's free. This is nothing new, I put it to practice but am not its originator. This is as old as Buddha and as fresh as your own very next breath, it is for all regardless of what you call your faith, your religion, your ecclectic sortof-sortof, or most valuably: your highest most intimately cherished reality.

And as Christmas approaches I decided this year to put this out there, as it has been received, and in my own manner of presentation – if being Christian (whatever denomination or however you define that) you take this and own it, make it yours – not by reading and thinking about it or having an opinion about it but only by giving it your devoted concentration and following the simple few steps, you will be really fulfilling both the Sermon on the Mount and the Prayer of St. Francis: by letting yourself be made an instrument of service in the most Christian real sense there is. Now do it and I'll shut up:

Sit up straight, whether on a chair (feet flat) or on a mat or rug, however you best do that, back straight but relaxed, neck also. All breathing is through the nose. What you do with your hands is of little matter, mudra or no mudra or hands held or free – just concentrate. Take a few shallow breaths, a few deep ones, some strong then gentle, adjust – consciously adjust your breathing to be long and deep, into the belly and back out, let your focus settle in your chest, just central there, your Heart. Just breathe. You can direct your thoughts better with any of the following, they are only three suggestions of many: Inhale “Toward the One” and exhale “United with All” (meaning all the illuminated souls who are actually leading you in this as we speak) – or, inhale “Christ in me” and exhale “United with All” – or if you're Jewish doing this you can inhale “Ha-Shem Echad,” and exhale “Baruch-Ha-Shem” – whatever works for you.

Now: you have adjusted your breathing and it's long and deep, you should focus your most devoted thought on Whom or on That which you most love – and yes, you are “worthy” of doing this – let the feeling in the center of your chest open to that and receive that. Let into you the presence of your greatest Trust, your greatest Love, let yourself imbibe that, be sourrounded by that, just as the conducting wire (you) inside a glass bulb is surrounded by a generated current and light is produced going outward. Just breathe this way. Let it fill you, in and around you. As this is a Christmas Concentration I'll address it accordingly. Let Jesus abide here, or as it says in Scripture, put on the Mind of Christ, you can even mentally intone Jesus Jesus if it helps – now we can begin.

Refining that breathing, refining like a bare thread coming and going, breathe into yourself all the Love you can draw in from the Universe, from the Cosmos, from the space around you, from so many dimensions, and from the here-now, and in reality. And breathe it out, out, out. Let it be with you, let it be in the room, let it abide, in and out. Whatever else is there with you, family or cares or worries or joys – let all this be of no disturbance, for you are sovereign, let this all be baptized in your breath, as you breathe in and then breathe out all the Love you can muster.

You are a sun, can you visualize that magnificent star up close? That is you, burning, producing such heat and such light – do you not feel your gut loosening and expanding even as you breathe in and out of your Heart (like I told you)? You may be an idiot all day long the rest of the week but right here and right now, you are Being Divine: Who loves ya? Who's with ya? Who'dja invite over to breathe with ya? Spirit is here and real – God's own breath is inside your breath.

Having let all the Love into you and, going out from you, circulate and expand, now continue on by refining still finer and drawing likewise into yourself all the Joy you can bring in, and circulate that through and on out, just as you've been doing. Feel it? It is yours, it is youyeah, you're worthy of it, you're worthy of it – it's not about you anyway, and yet it is entirely you giving yourself to its Doing – there's nothing theoretical here. Either you're with it or you're not.

Let this continue for a few breaths, then refine, refine, draw in finer still, all the Peace you can let in to your limitless capacity – you sun of God you! – you are the very space itself, embodied as you, just breathing! Don't blow it by thinking – you're there, now stay there! As this Peace which passeth understanding is real with you, going out from you, see how all this Love, all this Joy, all this Peace is contained as one breath of Compassion which you allow to expand out with every outgoing breath – it's as though you're no longer even there doing it, just it is there doing you.

Head and Heart are not apart – you direct this toward yourself and toward everything and everyone in the room, and on out through that window into your neighborhood, hovering just long enough to feel it take, and radiating and broadcasting out to the area, the district, the city, the country, the world, the earth, people you know and don't know, people you love and those you don't even like (no ifs ands or buts), people you've hurt or who've done you wrong, Nature: the forests, mountains, the waters of the Earth, the animals and critters, let it go out to wherever it is needed, whether to disaster areas, war zones, slums or crime-concentrated areas – or just to any nameless faceless individuals out there who may desperately need the witnessing touch of your Love and your Joy and your Peace, your Lovingkindness, your Compassion, breathing onto them and into them. Now.

Not my words should dictate how far out this goes or how far in – what you feel, feel it, go with it, trust, trust, trust.

And what now? Just breathe and breathe and be with it – feel feel feel: you are All-One but not alone.


(Just to give yourself a kick in the seat to get going on it, here are two unmistakably suitable reads:)



Saturday, November 16, 2013

My “Sura of the Cow” – or, When Did A Muslim

Islam gives us a radiant example
of how a religion – or ideology parading as one –
is like a cow:

The Sufi takes the udders in hand
and brings forth milk,
nourishing all;

the Muslim lifts the tail
and makes loud his proud claim
of authority.

If you plainly tell him
what that end of the cow only brings forth,
he will slit your throat and return to the mosque
with your blood on his hands.

The Sufi takes plain earth,
makes a garden of it,
feeds the world;

the Muslim sees earth,
finds it dirty and unclean, beneath him –
which doesn't mean his head is in the clouds
but up somewhere else.

The Sufi travels, seeks knowledge “unto China,”
befriends and appreciates everywhere
Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Parsis, Hindus, Buddhists.

The Muslim remains provincial though he travel,
knows everything better “unto China” –
and seeks to conquer.

(Driven much by fear and loathing,
obsessed with pork and pious clothing),
he knows his insatiable craving for recognition
will be gratified by dominating “the Other” into submission.

The Sufi has no axe to grind,
no policy or any baggage to sell;
the Sufi is no slave to mind
and wastes no thought on “heaven” or “hell.”

Sufis are not the mystics “of Islam,”
they are the Muslims' own worst nightmare –
if you really know God, they will stone or hang
you in the square!

When did a Muslim last speak to you of Love?
A Sufi speaks of nothing else but.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Bees-m'illah – or, The Dervish Gets The Honey




I once observed a swarm of bees
carrying their traffic in and out of a tree;
for two years running, according to season,
I'd lift my head into their midst, my reason

was to hear them, feel them more nearly
and hum at their timbre, imbibe it more clearly –
and humming was intoning, and this no less singing,
our own space intoning – I still, awash in their winging.

On raising my pitch just so, they flew faster –
when lowered, they slowered; then after
some minutes this humming grown quicker:
the drone manifested as pure Nature-Zikr.

Sufis have a nose for where the pollen's kept,
they've alone gathered Knowledge, while Muslims slept –
Love's own Zikr gathers atoms together, sovereign world!
Out of such was true honey combed, as the Dervish whirled.

When drenched in Love you pant, “There is no God but Reality!”
this is no property of ideology, nor is it the colorless banality
of crawling, supremacist, sado-maso, herd-submissive pork-squeamers –
but rather a Statement of Sovereign Love in Action, in God immersed!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

On Silence and Two Sonnets


Holding my speech I'll let the Silence be my speaking,
holding my tongue, my pen aloft, I'll let the Silence compose;
surrendering to patient Silence what we've been seeking,
I'll cherish every thought of you which e'er arose.
And there not stopping, nor for one moment freaking –
but hold you e'er fast 'in me, while this Love grows.


 
I.
Will Tina have me be kind?
Then I’ll be that and more for her sake, as she’d have it;
Considerate and gentle, for indeed she
‘s God, in form of my desir’d Beloved.

There West, in San Anselmo in Silence
Dress’d, tho’ wearing nought but jewels of light;
There she frolics and lives, waits in patience
For the hour, for the day, that very night

When our faces meet, lips part to press,
Seal the advent of Love’s consummation;
Bodies yielding to ev’ry touch, caress,
Giving o’er to this Communication.

And should these lines my Darling so please, sure
Shall’t go better when I serve her pleasure.



II.

In your Body deep am I, you in mine,
Ev’ry breath I draw is of your fragrance;
Muttering your name, Dear, within God’s Name –
Radiating before my eyes you dance.

Lover non-separate from Beloved,
Tho’ t geographic, circumstantial seem;
Two breaths as one shall keep one sacred bed,
And this, Love’s light – from our like faces beam.

Autumn’s wind tells me of your warm embrace,
December’s winter draws me toward your lap;
There to rest and bury my yearning face,
And upon your breasts too, this burning chap!

For if Spring’s a sign of our Fullfilment,
Summer’s star-cast heaven’s our Firmament.



Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Benediction




In the Name of the sacred chain of Illuminated Souls
who hold together the worlds:
May the Living God be with you now and always -
here-now and in reality, as in eternity.
May He, your Noble Lord and Cherisher, preserve your sincerity,
restore your dignity, increase your faith,
and make you fearless.
May the power of His Name abide with you.
May your joy be full and gratitude be your portion.
May you be moved and guided to find and assert
your inborn sovereign dignity and power,
your inborn sovereign confidence and grace.
And may His light ever shine within your heart,
even as you shine within mine.
Amen.

Bhajan, Kirtan – Goes On And On

When I sing Ram my heart
is opened, stilled and active both,
emboldened and awash in joy;
from the root of my spine to my crown

I am home, at home in this Body,
as if in a Temple full of powerful tones,
overtones and undertones, harmonies
which can really hardly be described.

When I sing Krishna I am
out of my skull with an ecstasy
curing ills, and maintaining health, longevity;
I need no radio, MTV, CDs or company,

I am never lonely because never alone.
Whether aloud or muttered or on silent tongue,
nestled in Love's bosom I am,
wherever these blessed Names are sung.

When I sing Shiva only the Self remains,
there is no what or who, no questions of matter,
but grounded in Body and from Body freed –
into dimensions of Body, which returns to seed;

I disappear, I manifest, I am here and I exist,
as I hear and as I'm real, so may I ever present feel
in this world as in every other: nourished by my Divine Mother.
Ah, there's a Love which can't be spoken, but only sung.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

On Serving

Just to clarify an oft observed confusion:
when Christ tells us, “the greatest of you is he
who makes himself servant to the rest;”
or when Swami Nityananda instructs, “only who can obey can command;”
or when Neem Karoli Baba tirelessly reminds us, to “love, serve, and remember;”
or when Hanuman replies in the Ramayana, “When I don’t know who I am,
I am Your servant; when I know who I am, I am You” –
the assertion here is this:
Serving makes one sovereign, never servile.
The two are often confused.



Sonnet, of sorts

(ca. 1986/7) 



She stands before the glass contemplative,
critiques her face and faults all relative;
and studies where her form symmetric falls,
familiarly discerns pounds possible –
Ridiculous in naked truth are we;
"too much or not enough" decidedly
of profile, flows of lines, of hip or bust –
She sees it all, as so have I, but just
let her perceive what I beyond form see:
From scar of cheek down through her wrists my eye
traverses fragrant joy yet unreveal'd –
sound glance of love does penetrate and heal
when drawn in love to 'waken inner being:
for what's being look'd for is what's looking.



Kiss

(ca. 1986/7) 

Feel the rhythm of a kiss: tongues in one another's cheek.

Learn the rhythm of this bliss: lips enmeshed – the thing you seek

is in the rhythm of this probing twisting meshing biting working

succulating pulsing ritual we call: the kiss.

This Little Acre

(ca. 1986/7) 

Elixir sweet is the Will refined,
      it empow'rs the personality –
      it swells from heart and stills the mind,
      ennobling our reality.
Of the Self-in-all I sing to you,
      of the joy surpassing reason;
      come sing with me of life renewed,
      come season upon season.


In the expression of hospitality
introductions are an empty gesture
for charity is in the glance.

In the lovingkindness of heart
words are few because inadequate …
for Thought molds and cultivates
the feeling and consideration of feeling.

When one is in love one is in love,
and when that is greater than all considerations
the oceanic quality of the heart
dictates all boundaries,
carrying off all that's entrusted to it
to a place solid beyond imagining,
where no rises or depressions upset the balance,
where the virgin quantity of one's innocence
and profound effervescent beauty are restored.


While we still occupy this little acre,
                                 you and I,
be like a pump and draw this ocean
into a cup, absorbing it in depth.

Looking Deeper In

(ca. 1986/7)

Look into my eyes, look
with the mirror of your heart –
Look beneath my humor, and my eccentricity;
Even my intellect, or the gentle care
with which I regard, even touch you –
Dare to penetrate what seems;
If you heard the song of my soul,
how it surrounds you:
Truly you'd catch the secret
of your own true nature,
revealing to you the Path of Love,
how it comes and goes,
like a single breath, a steady symphonic chord
drawn from the first Humans,
extending through the Ages.

Delicately I walk that Path and serve it.

Kul ad-duniya b'tedowwr b'il-'amr –
W'anti ajmal min al-qamr –
Inna 'ishq-allah m'abud l'illah –
Wa b'kul al-khalaq 'ahubb al-amraa'h.

(All the world turns according to order –
And you are more beautiful than the moon –
Indeed! God is Love, Lover and Beloved –
And out of all Creation I love the Sovereign Order of Love.)

For It Is He That Beckons

(ca. 1986/7)

ALLAH is a Communication –

from AH to AH . . .

When a child looks upon me – I disappear,
it is He that beckons:

AH L' AH L' AH L' AH L' AH

Show me the least gesture of beauty or of subtlety:
Yussuf beholds himself through my eyes . . .

AH L' AH L' AH L' AH L' AH

For it is He that beckons in the personal display
of nobility or of grace –
I hear His ways and would that I were his slave:

AH L' AH L' AH L' AH L' AH

And should I find and should I see the Majesty of His Person
reflected in my very Self –
Surely the way of perfect humility is the very threshold
of effacement in the sovereign and dynamic.

AH L' AH L' AH L' AH L' AH