The crux of embrace

The crux of embrace

As its fragrance is hidden in the rose,

my Beloved said,

so My presence is hidden in the human heart.

Under our noses, Lord – unobserved

within ourselves and others.

Only faith and desire keep us daring

the crux of embrace.

Yes, the heart gets tipsy at the first nip  

of Your wine -- dances in its cage;      

deeper in the cup, it grows weepy and ponderous.

And when Your fire sweeps through –

first, a searing pain, then ... burned rubble

from which to look out sheepishly upon the world.

But, You promised us ... You promised Your presence  

every moment woven into the heart’s delicate fabric

so pervasively, the rose, having never set
tender foot beyond its vast domain, 

                                                           

goes about wailing and weeping

at the absence of its own scent.

O child of God, turn from the world’s enticements

to discover within, the fragrance of God.


                            

Your brush strokes

Your brush strokes

O Beloved, tonight, as these prayers are being said,

looking out upon the bowed heads of Your lovers,

in my heart, also, heads are bowed.

Voices blending in arti; there are voices

          and harmonies within me as well.

And, as I kneel for Your darshan,

in the tomb-shrine of my heart, there is, also, a kneeling.

On this nondescript hill, a small group of Your lovers

has gathered tonight from around the world.

We have come to bow down to the holiest part within us

          and all human beings.

What a long journey to reach this humble abode!

O Beloved, in Your Tomb-Shrine I have found my refuge.

In the shrine of my heart, let me offer You refuge.

Paint the walls within it in Your lovely brush strokes,

scenes from a life of Purity and holy Love.

O child of God, garland the stone of your heart-shrine.

Prepare it lovingly for the arrival of the Guest.


                        (from The Garden of Surrender)

Song link -- I carry Your love

I carry Your love                                                       capo 1 

          A            E              A                    E           

In the hours of heartache just before the dawn

my wheels keep rollin’ through the north Georgia rain

and I’m feeling so lonely like the last man on earth

so I offer my prayers and I whisper Your name

there’s a yearning for comfort in my heart and in my soul

there’s a sad old song on the radio dial          

and I missin’ you so much and I’m long overdue               

Lord knows what I’d give just to see You smile

                         A                             E

thank heaven above from a heart below

                     A                           E

I carry Your love everywhere I go

                        A                           E

and Your holy name, I whisper it low

                         A                           E

and carry Your love everywhere I go

                         A                            E

and carry Your love everywhere I go

                 A            E                             A                 E

down a lonely ol’ highway through the night in the rain

Feel like I’ve drifted too far from my home

but I know that You’re with me as I am with You

love binds us together wherever I might roam

My joys and my sorrows not long for this world

so I do what I can, Lord, and I leave You the rest

‘cause my home’s over yonder.  I’m a stranger in this world

I know You roll with me nearer than my breath

I carry Your love

Invisible fingers

Invisible fingers

O Beloved, the learned man came to You with a list

of questions

and tore them up when he saw Your face.

Let me come to You tonight without the burden of words.

Let even this poetry I write be a form of silence.

At the pool of Bethesda, the angels didn’t sing,

but with invisible fingers, stirred the water.

Jesus asked the afflicted man, “Wilt thou be made whole?”

That is not a question to be answered with the mouth,

          but with a collapse of all interior obstructions.

O Beloved, I will be made whole when You and I are One.

Then, I will be full of words but with no one to hear.

For my mouth will be Your silent mouth;

my questions answered from the inside.

O child of God, long for a world of silence

with no need for words to bridge the gap.


                          (from The Garden of Surrender)

Poultice

Poultice                                                                                             

I heard You, Silent One,

halfway around the world –

amazed to find my heart

had sprouted an ear.

Once a God-fearing man, God put on Your face. 

Now where is my fear?

I turned immediately toward home;

love, the poultice my soul required.

The best wine and the fatted calf 

for a wastrel’s return.  Who could believe it?

Those terrible scales of Justice – 

suddenly swung into balance

by the stone weight

of Your compassion.

‘It’s My Love that has drawn you here,’  You whisper. 

Tears stain the coverlet on Your tomb.

O child of God, your Beloved has declared Himself 

God in human form.  Let the chips fall where they may.


                          (from A Jewel in the Dust)

Under the straw

Under the straw

You’re being smuggled out of the country.

This is not a time for questions –

Why are we turning down this street?

How were these documents obtained?

Whose identity have I stolen?

How much farther to the border?

Pilgrim!  You don’t need answers

nor is your advice welcome.

The only words coming from your mouth

should be, “Thank You.  Thank You!”.

Keep low.  Don’t give yourself away.  Stay huddled

under the straw in the back of the truck.

When Jesus healed the blind man, do you think

the fellow looked around, admiring the landscape?

He gazed upon the face of his Savior.

What a sight for sore eyes!

O child of God, as promised, Meher Baba awaits you,

just over the line, arms opened wide.

                          (from A Jewel in the Dust)

                              

Toward a rendezvous

Toward a rendezvous                                                                     

Every moment I’m being ushered

into the presence of the King.

Abducted, heavily cloaked –

the horses gallop, the coach hurtles

toward a predestined rendezvous

across the river.

After millenniums, the tide is turning,

gaining momentum, sweeping everything out to sea.

Our gazes meet as the water swirls

urgently around our ankles.

It matters little now if loved ones are

swept beyond arm’s length –

we are bound for the same depths,

our fate sealed, our salvation assured!

In this last measure,

approaching those fabled gates,

I keep them in my heart,

souls interlocked, enfolded 

into the turbulent embrace
of Arms Everlasting.

O child of God, Love has drenched you to the core.

For such Grace, your life is the only proper barter.


                           

 

Humility

Humility                                                              

Your face everywhere at the Center –

a photograph or painting in every room;

from the ethereal beauty of Your younger days

to the silent majesty of the latter.

Seeing Your face, Lord, let my gaze fall

at Your feet – where it belongs;    

as I must one day – mind, body and spirit –

         fall at Your feet,

to become the dust under Your heels.

Grant me the humility, Lord, to accept myself as I am

by accepting You for Who You are.

Even as my asking is a vain conceit,

I long for the poverty of such humility.

Exhaust my storehouse . . . until there’s nothing left

that’s not a gift from You.

Fill my cellar . . . with only Your wine –

that I might share a cup with everyone

           who comes to the door.

O child of God, try to love those who you cannot love,

perhaps, beginning with yourself.

                          

Confine yourself

Confine yourself                                                     

O Meher, You confined Yourself – in the jopdhi,

in the table-cabin, in the bamboo cage,

in sundry mountain caves; in the blue bus,

in a hut atop Tembi Hill;

in the crypt before ... and after

it became Your Tomb.

You confined Yourself –

in Your great Silence; in Your human body.

You confined Yourself, perhaps,

to show how we might be free.

                                                                                       

O pilgrim, retire now to the narrow,

holy cell of remembrance; of contemplation    

and meditation; fetter your mind and tongue

to the unyielding repetition of His name.

Confine yourself to God.

If God is not enough, what is?

O child of God, it’s the life of Illusion 

          that’s restrictive, repetitive and tedious.

The Truth of Meher is boundless.

                               

Song link -- He chose me

He chose me

Goodbye, cruel world

Goodbye, cruel world                                                            

Holding tightly to Your damaan,

I’m losing my grip on reality.

Serving You and myself ... it’s like

straddling two horses at full gallop.

But, in truth, You’ve given me no choice.

For that I am grateful.

Boxed into a corner, fending off the blows –

You above me, battering me to my knees –

I glance into Your eyes and see ...

Infinite Compassion.

The fight goes out of me.                                                     

I’ll never again be the man I was.  

         

I’ve received an inkling of Your love.      

Your love – the whole world is drenched in it

as You labor to bring forth

from my recalcitrant body,

the true, the pure, the immutable.

Your love requires two

to slip through the ropes,

One to emerge ...  Victorious!

O child of God, bid the world farewell

and see the compassion upon which it is built. 

                          (Unpublished)                            

                            

This rare mingling

This rare mingling                                                                     

From a child’s downed back

sprouted wings of loneliness –

propelling me, through a lifetime

          of distances,

randomly and erratically, to You.

Your stone brought me down –

wrestling like Jacob with the angel;

   

feathers dirtied, wine-stained;

collapsed upon the tavern floor.

 

Fiercely embracing You,

loneliness fled in a wash of tears.

After much doting and fussing –

my Companion whispered, 

“Drink deeply this rare mingling of dust and wine.

Drink to honor your loneliness .... 

It has led you to the threshold of God.” 

O child of God, existence was built upon

the loneliness of the One without a second.

                        (from A Jewel in the Dust)