Faith In Time of Darkness Is there a soul-estrangement worse than this, To be adrift in a once- familiar scene, To have lost to death the sweet beloved's kiss, To have seen life's moments flicker as on a screen And missed the spirit-dimension wandering blind Among the thousand faces loved and known, The bright ideas that once had lit the mind Encased in silence now and still as stone; Caught in a vast penumbra of the sun Who once emerged from caverns of the night To gaze upon the million-bodied One, The plenary manifestation of the light. And of the inner life what can be said, There is no key or none can yet be found But faith i

Soul New-Formed She walks no more in beauty by my side As in the days when autumn's colours flew, Through all the seasons of her life denied No lovely thing its place and in the few And faltering moments when the cancer grew Consuming flesh, still she smiled through pain For in her spirit's secret heart she knew That love would last and joy be ours again. For death the temporal God gives us release From bodies worn that soul itself renew, Recharged in strength return from realms of peace New-formed in light and robed in golden hue.

Earth By Her Have I retained more than a minute part, A wandering mote of all I once had been, The protecting light in which my spirit grown Full with all the glory it had seen And the memory of stars I once had known? I heard a call within the silent heart That woke my soul from its long reverie, One came to me most terrible, most sweet And made my life and future lives to be A living base on which to place Her feet. Nature in her wise and varied art Attuned my eyes to beauty, God the rest, A music waits its moment close above, *The sacred gardens soon

Tehmiben The final flame has leapt to join its source Above the failing candle of the flesh, The spark of its sincerity so bright It flamed into a fire of the soul, Burning as a beacon in our night, A torch to guide us towards the coming Dawn. We who gathered round this blazing light Meet now in silence as once we leaned to her To hear the higher knowledge from those lips That at the last spoke only 'Ma, Ma'. Where now the reign of sorrow when the sun Of aspiration rises in all hearts Touched by one who lived for Her alone? O luminous soul could we forget your smile Or fail to hear eternal harmonies When from your lips 'Savitri' burst forth? Ev

Handmaid of the Truth I live in sanctuary of the trees Around me hosts of friends self-assured, Saved. A moment of conviction counts An eternity the faithful spend with God. Not so for those who walk diminished earth Slow to heal the million gaping wounds, Despoilment, denudation, once divine, But now contaminated, rape of soil, Polluted streams, no longer spacious skies Or oceans' purity and lakes pristine. O human soul from this mud house arise, The human beast transform to god-like mould Else world-iniquities shall scream your name, Blood lust and greed the tag of infamy, Slave of forces far above your fears Marionett

Bear Me a Fire Bear me a fire to transform my soul Anoint me with the Paradisal oil Bring me silence in a golden bowl And manna to sustain my age-long toil. Offer me fragrant flowers as I prepare To drink my fill from sacramental streams, And wash away the dust of earthly care. Robe me in starlight and the moon's silver beams And guide my spirit gently to slowly come, Cleansed of impatience, ego, desire, deceit And the accumulations I called my home, Once more to kneel before Her lotus feet.

When Shall We When shall we hear beyond the shoals Of ignorant seas in which we strive, The music chambered in our souls, The harmony for which we live, The 'aves' of a thousand choirs Chanting the marriage of the dawn, And melodies the heart desires Through star-clad night and sun-bright morn. When shall we see undimmed by tears, With the awakened eye within Beauty's face that through the years Above our songs of sadness and sin? When shall we dream and recreate The joy supreme known to those Great spirit guides who watch and wait For darkness failing in its throes. When shall we be, not just become, No longer think

O Soul O soul thou hast drunk deep of beauty's ways But where is silence and the calm heart's peace, Surrender in these swiftly passing days When shall the tiresome sense-life's traffic cease? The spark of aspiration grown a flame Wavers still in the uncertain light Of human interaction and the game Of clashing egos might on blinded might. God's plan lies hid or none can yet be seen But an ancient gladness ripples through the soul, One feels an unnamed guidance gently wean The spirit from mind's overworn control. Soon shall a touch surprise our mortal soil And justify the ages' patient toil.

Upon the Soul's Frontier As if a passing cloud concealed the sun Things now are veiled that once shone bright and clear And yet no darkness can obscure the One Whom we have seen upon the soul's frontier. He has borne the agony that hate's increase Inflicts upon the saviours of mankind, I see behind his rock-like strength the peace Of a vast and calm imperturbable mind. The cup of worldly poisons he has drained And from his lips our earthly ears have heard, Among the ills by ignorance sustained, The voice of God and the immortal word, The promise of a love that conquers all. The Bride by him unveiled and luminous Appeared

Increase My Faith O thou who know'st the secrets of the stars Look in this heart, all lingering darkness rout And see if there remains behind the scars A love with strength enough to seek thee out. For it is late, the years steal quickly past, I cannot boldly press towards the light, Give me the inner strength that I may last Beyond the crowding shadows of the night And patience to behold thy face again Beyond the vacillating moods of prayer, The remnants of desire causing pain; For yet the vital clings to its despair, The mind distracted focuses its aim On too familiar things or circles round Remembrances, forgetting that it c