Undying Love 9/17/09   All that I was before and yet shall be I give to you, beloved of the stars, How many seas remind me of your eyes, How many islands refuge in your arms, And when upon your breast my thinking slept The deeper sleep of calm and passionless As you prepared to leave this too-brief life, My tears fell on your feet pressed to my face. This earthly soul now walks in forests lone, Speaks poetry to flowers and receives The blessings of the winds who kiss these eyes, Remembering we never must look back, And yet, and yet, the poignant moments come Like friends long gone who come to stay awhile Renewing friendship's bonds and old deligh

Two of Whom the Ancients Spoke 9/15/09 The bridals of the fall have come Dancing through the changeful leaves, Yet blooms persist the fading year And sparkling rain through towering trees Is welcomed by the drought-torn land. Autumn splendour calls to me, 'Slow down the vibrant pace of life, Reflect upon the glowing days Of youth when joy ran through the veins And laughter sailed upon the winds.' 'Rest now', it says, 'the winter of life Visits all and with its touch Stills the force and snuffs the flame.' But I have centuries to go, There is no rest for those who seek Diviner ways, the soul's uprise, Who glimpsed

To Youth 10/23/09 There was a child whose melodies Were built on chords of love so pure I was taken up to hear those strains And breathed in heaven's atmosphere. All the tenderness of youth And its sweet songs of innocence, My life of song renewed once more In waves of joyous renaissance. And yet too soon is youth dissolved Into the maelstrom we call life The pomp of ego dominates Its petty wants, its petty strife. And yet there is a residue Of beauty that remains with me, The memory of oneness too, And love in its tranquillity.

The Miracle Tossed upon the wreckage of my days, Left lone and wounded by the blows of fate, Self-pity took me in her faithless arms And caressed my sorrows with her hands of grief. Long lay I in darkness and despair, No word of comfort entered the torn heart's cave, No settling calm into the turbulence Of tears that flowed from cataracts of pain. And then the miracle for which I came Enveloped me, I was no more alone. A sweetness like the fragrant breath of Spring Embracing soul gently led me forth, My destiny to follow and my dream.

Second Breath Scattered flakes of cherry petals drift Down upon the soil; the inmost eye Sees them borne upon a gusty wind Like confetti thrown by some Divinity. The persistent beat of fast emerging growth Unheard by all but the listening soul, Heralds again the age-long round of birth And joy that sings untroubled by the fall That leafless welcomes winter's solace in. Only the Lenten roses will survive The frozen days and empty nights that kill. Driven by unknown fates are we alive To life that lies beyond the door of death The resting place for our second breath.

Imperative Choice A kind and gentle yogi told me once Regarding the evolutionary thrust, Answering with great simplicity A question scientists have grappled with But failed to find conclusion to their quest, A truth to satisfy, not be denied; "Each ascent results from a descent, There is no missing link; consider this, Evolution moves at a slow pace And ages preceded the grand advent of man. There were moments when an hour came And the touch of God was felt upon this globe. A pace accelerated from the sea And creatures learned to crawl and breathe the air. Typal worlds exist but only here The possibility of higher growth. Even an

Beauty and Delight The world and I are surely being stirred As in a cosmic cauldron of the Gods. It is not the cream that rises to the top, But toxic wastes, the gross impurities That have dwelt so long in their subconscious caves And veiled by Ego did their lethal work. The curtain that hangs between our darkened selves And the light that seeks admittance to the soul Lost in the entanglements of life, Yet calling in a voice suppressed by form And the thousandfold exigencies we face Shall meet at last in a supernal fire That burns away the dross of centuries Returning us to beauty and delight.

To Cleanse the Heart I have worked the soil of many lands And kissed the earth of India, Under her fiery sun my hands Grew strong and as a gardener I learned the language of the flowers, Spoke to them with love and praise Felt the grace come down like showers As benediction on my days. In Georgia as the Spring returns I plant again most joyously While in my soul the fire burns To cleanse the heart and truly see.

The Storied Play 9/17/09 Not forgetting, but remembering The difficulty and the burden is, The accumulate of dreams and hopes unfilled Bear down upon the soul a hundredweight - Difficult to fly with such constraint. We are tethered to a past we would not leave Abandoning the precious years of dream. How then shall the singing bird escape To find new bodies when the old is done? Lover of Autumn I look toward the Spring And put aside the winter-thoughts of years Ill-spent in desire's endless search Or the errant paths of mind who would be king And master of this house of aging flesh. A higher nature calls and would release From its

New Songs, New Poems                  How often have I left the past behind Seeking freedom from the shackles and chains Of memory, the joys and sorrows that blind The aspiring soul who would the Light attain Unburdened of the failures and success Of this and former lives, the past discard, Unrobe to truth nor grief nor happiness Tempt one from the path, though often hard, Lengthy and circuitous, the way Prepared, designed by an unerring Force, The dust of centuries shake off and stay Committed to the spirit's chosen course. For this I came, a work I must complete, New songs, new poems to place before His feet.