For Mary Helen 2/15/02 That Which Having Lived I cannot trace the pathways of her feet In those far lands where body is no more, In morns that render sorrow obsolete And meetings with the great who've gone before. For in this world where only the gross is seen The damask roses of her cheeks abloom Are hid from outer sight behind a screen In subtle forms the Beautiful assume. Perhaps a calm detachment will descend And fill the widening chasm in the breast Or angel-choirs stirring music lend To pain-fraught hearts by sorrows songs oppressed, Perhaps, but surely do not believe it so, The dead are no more dead t

Flower of Eternity  Dec. 2002 Flower of eternity descend And with thy fragrance charm the world to bliss In thy perfection's stainless calyx hold Hope for man, for the Eternal's kiss.

Vision of Eternity - For Mary Helen I found the most expensive frames Of rosewood, ebony, and gold, With all the famous makers' names Inscribed, remembrances to hold. And then one day a simple base Among the ornate and refined I bought to hold the treasured face That smiled so gently on mankind. A soul transcending boundaries Whose loveliness the heart retains Cannot be held by frame or frieze Nor even in our sacred fanes Emplaced, surpassing sky and sea, A vision of eternity.

Awake and Yet Asleep I am asleep and when awake asleep, Awake to the injustice of the world, Asleep to all within my soul that waits The hour of God upon our mortal soil. I am awake to pain and loss and grief, These human things that tear our human hearts, Asleep to wonder that is yet to be Arriving at the intersect of life And death, its conscious labour in the cell, The streaming mass of golden rays that rain Upon the earth where souls of light have stayed, Awake to hope that evil shall dissolve As salt in God's immeasurable seas. I am alive to joy that touches and flees, Asleep to peace and calm that settles peace, Ali

Haiku in Pondicherry Blacker than night The raucous crow Scolds the meditating throng. Sadhak riding A motorbike Speeding recklessly towards God. Rail-thin beggar, Loincloth torn Brushing carefully his teeth. Kurta and jeans The modern flair, Bhakti hides beneath the cloth. Samadhi flowers, Bright saris And varied offerings of soul.

Silent Prayer Sri Aurobindo when shall I break free Of body, mind and ego's treachery, Of all these thousand shackles self-imposed And all within that still lies locked and closed. Have aspiration's embers cooled to ash Does sorrow suck the marrow of my soul Am I the flesh for flagellation's lash Limping towards some masochistic goal? Or is this but a stage where Death, the king Of nothingness has caught me in his snare, Who joys in loss inflicting with his sting A haunting grief that borders on despair. I know that I am Thine, my path assured When Mother lit the flame long years ago, Why then this stagnant space where I'm immured

Mary Helen, Mother's Child.htm Mary Helen, Mother's Child Though I have sought for inner peace The tears unbidden flow For one whose pain I cannot ease And cannot share or know. The time is past for desperate prayer Or pleadings for surcease, Our Mother who is everywhere Will grant her soul release And from the body's temple fly To secret worlds of bliss, Her soul eternal cannot die Who suffered Godhead's kiss.

God's Face In Our Humanity.htm God's Face In Our Humanity Into the dark and void unknown I stare, Sorrows streams cannot cleanse my heart Of pain too deep for mortal souls to bear Who from this human tragedy depart. For all we think we know is a charade And what we see as real illusion's mask, The world is an ephemeral parade The labour of Atlas or long Herculean task. I hear a sadness like a hollow drone Imposed upon the music of our life, Each bears the agony of loss alone, Father, mother, brother, sister, wife Pass on and leave the others to their grief. When cancer feeds on all but skin and bone Or the weak heart fails and like a falling leaf T

To Mary Helen – At Mother's Feet The Greater Realms of Light I have loved you since the morning of the world. When first you passed, a vision draped in blue, I saw the boon of heaven's joy unfurled And in a single moment's dawning knew That we as spirits joined would travel far And journey toward the greater realms of light Together, yet alone, the bright daystar Companion of our swift and godward flight. The days on rapid wings upbuoyed have flown And now we face the fate of karmic years And former births through which our souls have grown. Too close our hearts to suffer human tears, Each moment we must drin

Unblemished Rose I looked in former lives towards a shore I could not cross, rivers I could not ford, And dreamed of joys never known before And moments in the presence of the Lord. Then once, but once ,the holy fire swept Through body to the reaches of the soul And riveted by that great force I wept, As love upon my spirit softly stole. Awakened in Her splendid atmosphere All my life that moment would repeat, She smiled, a golden sun, as I drew near And lay my restless head upon Her feet. She guides my being to untold delight, Her Grace come down into my seeking soul, Unblemished Rose, God's power to unite, Her smile