The path to heaven

The path to heaven                                                                                          
 
To escape Pharaoh’s decree,
the mother of Moses (a daughter of Levi)
 
took for him an ark of bulrushes
and daubed it with slime and pitch,
 
laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
The Avatar offers an opportunity
 
to place all our fragile hopes into one basket,
where they become our earnestly gathered faith,
 
no more to be who we thought we were,
nor inhabit a world we took to be home.
 
Our surrender is then utterly of ourselves
forsaking all prior comforts, habits,
 
commitments and desires, abandoning forever
a realm which affords no peace, certitude or refuge. 
 
O child of God, the path to heaven ends abruptly
and must be leapt across.

My heart is slain

My heart is slain
 
A house divided against itself –
how much longer can it stand?
 
My heart is slain, but my head refuses the news.
Somewhere in the galaxy, a star has collapsed;
 
my eyes still collect its distant light.
I tend this life as if it belongs to me;
 
direct and question the way
as if I hold the reins.
 
My heart is slain, but my head keeps wondering
why its schemes and dreams come to naught.
 
O child of God, your fate is sealed.
Head and body will follow soon the way of your heart.

                                     (from A Jewel in the Dust, 2011)

One true faith

One true faith                                                                                                   
 
At times I refer to Meher Baba
as my Saviour but it’s not quite true.
 
What portion of me has He ever promised to save?
Not even a casket-sized haven for a body
 
returning to dust (just the same with Him or without).
Not the small delusive mind crammed into my skull,
 
nor its cohort, the bewildered heart in its cage –
each the root of all ignorance and mischief –
 
enabling the seemingly endless wheel of birth and death.
Nothing as ethereal as my soul will He save
 
which (by His word) has never been in danger.
No, no, my Lord promises not to rescue
 
one jot or tittle of myself
when the illusion dissolves
 
which is the sum total
of me and mine and who I am.
 
Nothing to be salvaged, kept or saved
and within that nothing He promises everything.
 
O child of God, trade in all your hopes
and fears for the one true faith.

God's throat and ear

God’s throat and ear                                                                             
 
Mohammed crawled into the cave of His heart
          and began to sing.
What came out was God’s music.
 
Gabriel taught Him the verses,
then, sat enraptured at His feet.
 
In the desert bloomed the oasis of Islam;
stars crowding the dome of His mosque.
 
When You returned, O Ancient One,
You chose silence.
 
Maybe the kiss and stone gave You the clue –
or Tajuddin’s perfect rose.
 
Aware of what had become of Your words,
You sang to God with Your hands.
 
O child of God, praise the song of Meher Baba,
Who has captured God’s throat and ear.

                                    (from A Jewel in the Dust, 2011)