In That Flaming Instant

As a child alone on a hilltop boldly stands

Believing he has conquered earth and sky,

I was certain of my future's brilliant plans

Filled with a vision of immortality.

Yet even in my youth's most carefree hours

Counsel I sought among the realized few

Drawn to their inner strength and hidden powers

Deeply I drank at their wisdom's fount and drew

The sustenance of spirit to survive

The arduous emergence of my soul.

All that was given me I sought to give,

For music sang in me, my life, my goal.

I was called as the sea to the waiting shore

Like earth beguiled by the waxing moon

And knew the forest's heart long before

I knew my own and then the mighty boon

Was granted and I left my world to find

In foreign lands and crossing perilous seas

The truth beyond the limits of the mind.

On seeing Her I fell upon my knees.

She looked at me and smiled and sealed my fate

In the white-hot silence of the tropic morn.

"Would you like to talk or meditate?"

And in that flaming instant I was reborn.