The Peace That Inner Silence Brings II 1/28/08 And though my poems prove valueless to men, Woven in this dress of earthly life, Poorly robed and sadly ill-defined Still would I write these lines that drifting down Like snow upon the silent floor of night To honour the muses of eternity. Unskilled as poet and undoubtedly no sage I grasp the hem of thoughts that will not die. I have no private cache of well-turned words Or phrases to impress the literate fold And I would borrow not from other's gold To speak the syllables that alter time. Perhaps these thoughts are chimeras of mind But only in my deeper self I find The

Descent of the New Music In a consecrated hall A candle lit whose symbol flame Inspires us to chant as one The syllable that can transform, Bring down the music and the force On earth and in the hearts of men. It waits for unity of souls, A consecrated gathering Forgoing ego, forgetting self, One holy body aspiring. Silence, then an opening And the subtle music comes Flowing into the instruments And penetrating to the cells. Harmonies unvoiced b

Prepare I hear in me when the smaller self retires The swelling of the voices of the sea, Feel in my bones the pure and cleansing fires Lit once in my spirit’s antiquity. Perhaps the ignorance of occult things Hides a blessing rather than a curse Have we not our fill of earthly sorrows’ stings, Illness, suffering and death, and worse, The loss of light and friends that soon betray The love we offered from a heart of love, And friendships shattered in a single day. Still towards a greater truth we move Unsealing God’s supernal mystery A laughter rings throughout the scented air I hear an echo from eternity Prepare, O man, prepare, prepare, prepare.

The Bud of Blossoming Divinity Unconscious I was born and unaware, Breaking into body with the soul, Of past accomplishments, of death and deeds, The chasms and the peaks before the fall Into the form that now I claim as mine. I have lived so many lives in one, Growing slowly, ever more aware That all I have achieved sums up to none Until the mind is stilled, the heart so wide That all the world is in its love contained, All desires conquered and all grief Subdued that spirit's growth be not detained By temporal concerns, imagined needs, Fleeting joys, failure and success That bind our feet and clip the wings of flight, D

Muse of Splendour Into the silent mind a vision comes Other than these earthly eyes can see, And words with the insistency of drums Beat on, the silver laugh of poetry. O Muse of Splendour I offer the empty cup, Fill me with divine humility, Impoverished though I am you raise me up To reaches where the Word is alchemy. For through these halting rhythms, failing lines You open me to God's infinity And slowly my soul with beauty and truth aligns Awakened to the occult mystery. A gathering stillness now envelopes me And gratitude to set the spirit free.

Evening Prayer I shall burn frankincense for thee And on that shaft of fragrance rise My prayers of mediocrity. For nothing do I know, my eyes To all thy wondrous gifts are blind And hardly can my spirit view Among the drifting clouds of mind Above, thy golden retinue. Yet shall I pray to purify The wayward thought, the act impure, My soul to lift, my feet to try The sunlit path and sin abjure, Renew my contract with the light And at thy feet would dwell tonight.

Re-energize the Soul 8/2/01 We merely ride the surface of Time's wave And deeper depths and greater shores ignore, Content to skim the surface for awhile Reluctant to confront or to explore The meaning and the message of our birth, Our purpose in this random play of fate, Or heed the secret Resident within Preferring worldly joys to fill and sate The passing years as nymphs upon a stream Who briefly live and then are swallowed up By forces that wait beneath the conscious flow, Or slowly vegetate and drain the cup Of life

Where God Awaits I planted a willow by the lake And cherries to welcome spring, I planted in joy for beauty's sake And food for the fleet of wing. A garden of fragrance and coloured delight And woodland's shade serene Each day to yield a wonder-sight Among the paths of green. The outer work is finished now, The heart's design complete The beauty of each twig and bough Held in the mind's retreat. For now I seek the landscape of the soul, The Spirit's key to open hidden gates, I'll to the heavenly ether fly and stroll In lily-scented fields where God awaits.

The Inner Sight Without the inner sight our vision fails, For all is but appearances of form, Our inability to part the veils From outward show reduces to a norm Of commonplace our knowledge of the world. Yet moments dawn as in a crystal sky Of visionary clarities unfurled When we glimpse the unknown face of deity. Nothing moves us more or wakes the light So deeply as these truths our souls perceive, When shed of ego's vain distorted sight Our hearts prepare the godhead to receive.