I pray for You

I pray for You                                                                                      

I pray for You my soul to keep –

a child again and You’re the father –

I repeat Your name ‘til I fall asleep

in fields of quiet, buried deep 

‘neath skies where no storms gather.

I pray for You my soul to keep

as the horned owl flies and fire leaps

and the wild horse runs to lather.

I repeat Your name ‘til I fall asleep.

There’s fruit and grain, my task to reap; 

I’ll work the boundaries one to the other

and pray for You my soul to keep

free from dread and not to weep.

To blunt my mind’s fretful pother,

I repeat Your name ‘til I fall asleep.

The night’s settled in, moonlight-steeped,

a child again and You’re the father –

I pray for You my soul to keep

and repeat Your name ‘til I fall asleep.

(painting by Mark Hodges)

A Word sufficient

A Word sufficient  

                                                                               

If what You say is true is true,

I make my way to Paradise.

My faith in faith is faith in You.

A narrow way, the options few,

a rugged passage before me lies,

if what You say is true is true.

Stranded by a dearth of clues,

no way to judge this earthly guise –

my faith in faith is faith in You,

my life now by Your way endued,   

Your silent words internalized.

If what You say is true is true,

I arrive by truth I never knew;

live by wisdom once surmised.

My faith in faith is faith in You –

a glimpse from Your exalted view,

a Word sufficient to the wise;

if what You say is true is true,

my faith in faith is faith in You.

A twist in the plot

A twist in the plot

The simple truth -- a twist in the plot --
to His lovers Meher delivered this --
God is found where you are not.

The self with inherent grief is fraught --
by this impasse is the search amiss --
the simple truth -- a twist in the plot --

God is hidden by one small blot,
unattainable while you exist --
God is found where you are not.

O seeker, forsake this dusty clot,
this copper vessel, this verdigris --
the simple truth -- the twist in the plot --

the self by this dilemma's caught --
the seeker plants the Judas kiss --
God is found where you are not.

Your earnest search shall come to naught,
balanced above the great abyss,
the simple truth -- a twist in the plot --
God is found where you are not.

Ottoman

Ottoman

I consulted a dictionary,
thick as any gravestone,

the meaning of each word
only given in terms of other words

whose meanings must also be
looked up and so 

around and around we go --
illusory, inclusive world of words

created by barking, braying,
warbling and lamenting,

cooing, crooning, flesh-throated human beings --
our wordiness letting no truth in edgewise.

Your love I find inexplicable, indefinable, unutterable --
Your love -- all You ever talked about (in Your silence).

Silence I dare not keep -- the truth of myself
might shine forth for all to see.  I dare not shine.

I dare not embrace, so I go home
and write a poem about shining, embracing --

a pillow made of my dictionary,
an ottoman of my phonebook.

O child of God, words never tell the Truth
yet, they are the only means at our disposal.