The Rivers of Compassion

I felt the fire in me sputter low

And knew I would have many births to go

And countless raging rivers yet to ford,

Legions of random thoughts to overthrow,

A host of inner voices to be ignored.

I stood alone in the autumnal light

Far from the vision and the inner sight,

That brought me here a soul aspiring

To find the One who cleaved the veils ofnight,

And I outcast from soul and wondering

How fell I down from the anointed state

When all my striving spirit's thirst to sate

Was yet unfilled, the calm that I must be

A distant star above my unknown fate -

Then the rivers of compassion covered me.