In an Age of Innocence In an age of innocence so long ago When mind lay still and life leaped up in song All the movements of our days were slow And needs were few, we sorted right from wrong, The family was a castle, safe and strong. A simpler time in a quiet sleepy town Where neighbours smiled and gardens ever new Blossomed with the seasons and were sown With care but still deep-rooted thistles grew And prejudice unspoken flowered too. Then Hitler rode upon the wakened beast And children saw the family torn apart, On earth the great Asura was released Torment and pain the new demonic art And night fell on the troubled human

In Her Smile I Saw the World Was Saved In a surreal dreamscape weary and forlorn Unable to move and weak from war I wept, The skies with sullen clouds moved solemnly Across a landscape of denuded hills And in the valleys a dense miasma crept And occupied the habitats of men. I saw how ancient trees strangely fell Crashing silently on the lifeless soil, The awesome boughs were blackened, bare and cold, Grey waters lapped where once was only blue And flowers wilted in their weed-filled beds. A pain invaded me and no bird sang. I fell asleep and dreamt of war-torn lives And saw Death seated high upon his throne Striding a

A Paean to Childhood - The Mother's Birthday Feb. 21, 2005 A quiet town, simplicity of days, Ice cream and my mother's cigarettes, A tiny house that welcomed all who came, The sun-porch with its warm and welcome light The little room in which my childhood grew, The comfort of a home where love still reigned, The radio that brought the news of war, Adventure and suspense and fairy tales Spun for children's fantasies and dreams, To whet the fertile landscape of the mind, Our prayers became a symphony of psalms The music of a thousand choirs heard And singing that could set the soul aflame. There was a graveyard full of unknown nam

A Guiding Hand Upon Fate’s Road.html A Guiding Hand Upon Fate's Road Still there remains to haunt my days The memory of perfect love. Sorrow how devious your ways, How subtly through the heart you move. This body having lived for light Now see the embers of its fire Flash upon the coming night Yet from this life shall not retire, For One instilled within the soul The inner flame that cannot cease, Lit the pathway to the goal Installed a modicum of peace Within a vessel crudely made, Blessings innumerable bestowed And on this being sweetly laid A guiding hand upon fate's road.

To Know the Truth That is Me Feb. 12, 2011 I looked upon the vastness of the sea But all my wanderlust had long since fled, The breaking waves brought back to memory The day I cast the ashes of my dead. Across the pale blue waters sailed my dreams Of youth and hope, the possibility Of Light's descent that succours and redeems And the beauty of the coming world to be. Now the hourglass has few grains left And I alone am far from journey's end The cause and not the victim of

A Continuum of Light I wandered in an old familiar place Above the lake where arm in arm we stood, A glowing ruby on a emerald base Was burning in the deeply fragrant wood. Pale the beams that filtered through the trees, The leaves of autumn thick beneath my feet, And from the north a chill and welcome breeze Carried a fragrance, wonderful and sweet. Perhaps her soul among the iris dwelt Or lingered in the lilac's scented breast, How cruel a blow uncaring death had dealt, For in my heart there was not peace nor rest. Now Grief the uninvited visitor Had taken up his residence in me No joy could be as it was once before W

The Letter In a letter vibrating with joy, Youthful in its passionate energies, I caught the echo of an eternal voice Resounding in the chambers of the soul. I glimpsed the Idea that had made the worlds And knew that life and death companions are And we are joined as mala or rosary. With or without a body the work goes on, For darkness is only a degree of light. Although the torrent and the quake destroy The unsuspecting and the faultless good, As the order of the stars by one was cast So earth her order makes of man's desires. That pain transforms to pleasure at some height I am not able yet to understand, But love enfolds my heart with beatin

Sacred Chants We sing and through our music call the power That alone can heal the sorrow of the world, Transforming strains a spirit wideness bring, A music falls, a cadence on the ear Attuned to heights from which our souls came down. An innerness of harmony we seek Unburdened of ambivalence of mind, Conventions of the sense-conditioned ear, To find within the silence and the song Diviner sounds sung by diviner man, The Singer who upon the cosmic lyre Shall lift our hearts, our sacred chants inspire.

Disaster Like a Tsunami Jan. 21, 2011 Disaster like a tsunami rushed on her And swept away her fragile house of dreams Her little body, injured and in pain By repeated blows from a father's hand Held a spirit vast as all the earth, And when she sang my soul was taken up Where heavenly choirs sing of earthly bliss. But not for me these wonder months to know For soon the black-wing doubt appeared And trust was shattered in a human day. I wonder now if she will ev

Rejoice in All Things Beautiful Perhaps the spirit in its downward flight Seeing the loveliness of earth forgets In its amniotic bath the native light And tinged perhaps with heavenly regrets Takes up a body to share the human load. Yet waiting in the pulsing heart of man A spark resides, a guide though not a goad To lead the soul in one brief earthly span, Remembering the gate of golden rays From which it came, to become aware Of eternal music singing through our days And rejoice in all things beautiful and fair.