Garden of Unearthly Bliss

I stood at the Garden of Unearthly Bliss

Hoping a magic entryway to find

But the gates were locked and the Lover's kiss

Denied to the impure in heart and mind.

I saw the mystic blossoms opening,

A fragrance caught from some forgotten past

But could not hold in my dark sorrowing

When Death claimed the beloved at the last.

I watch the wonder of the Spring unfold

And know that peace and calm might still descend

If I could leap beyond my grief and hold

The vision of the garden I must tend,

The flowers' simple offering be mine

All poverty of spirit be undone.

O Mother let my soul be wed to Thine,

The hour nears, the work has hardly begun.