The Healing Music Came Last night the healing music came An organ of the human voice, Waves of rapture entered us As a rain of blessings from above. And in the candle's glow I saw Devotion and intensity, An aspiration deep and pure, An opening for the descent Of the force divine for which we came Answering the inner call, To the great adventure of the soul And a new light upon the earth. One hundred voices joined as one A recognition of unity That filled the consecrated hall And in an instant all was changed. Love came to us and certitude That earth will bear and conquer all The falsehood and malevolence That

In Silence Deep Among the Flowers Hydrangeas wilt beneath the blazing sun Their drooping heads await the close of day, But the iris at the water's edge sing on And hummingbirds dance in the fountains spray. Seduced by beauty I arise each morn As one who hears a sound upon the sea Runs to the shore to see the lover home. I am greatened by the least discovery Of scent or hue that greets me as I roam Consumed by earth's consuming majesty On

In Lasting Peace Now the breathing is deep, uneven After my daily exercise That anchors me to soil and sky. Each sit-up calls in ecstasy And on the treadmill of my life There is time, so much time Between accelerated steps To contemplate the breath, Follow it to where it leads, And I, reciting the sacred name Of one who works in the earth of being Live again in lasting peace.

For Thee Exclusively These perfumed flowers hold my prayers, Colourful and sweet, I who came with haughty airs Place them at thy feet. Give my eyes the light to see My lips to voice the call, The years recur incessantly No progress made at all Unless my soul to thee I give Or life will pass me by In thee alone let me live And to the old self die.

Her Hand I have felt Her hand across the vasts of time Guiding gently though firm and resolute That I should not fall into the dark abyss In which the Way is lost for centuries. So many times the life-force has returned When it seemed that death would shear the silver cord. This plenary grace that succours and upholds The errant spirit when the darkness speaks And one is lured by siren-song to fall, Surrounds my soul, protecting aura of light, Though I revolt and p

The Anachronisms of the Past The anachronisms of the past restrain Like tensile strands that pull the puppet back. An atavistic being we retain Who waits for every weakness to attack The reaching spirit breaking through the shell That holds our ignorance and lassitude, Reminding us that in this mortal cell Imprisoned we are free though an interlude Of specious dreaming and a mindless one Is thought of Right and Truth and earth reborn Beneath dead stars and a slowly dying sun. All draws down to entropy and worn And tired are the credos we have heard Of Gods and angels, hierarchic modes Of being and a Paradisal Word. What the

Rain Prayer 6/12/08 I petitioned you for a deluge, did not pray For the briefest shower or some paltry drops To ease the deep-cracked soil, as balm my hands. Parched is the ground and all growing stops, The grass dies out although the clover blooms, And brightens undisturbed and bees still find A sip of nectar in the drooping flowers, The heat so strong it even wilts the mind. So come, rain, fill the empty lakes And I with feet of clay will dance and sing And praise you for your generosity. Return the thirsty land to flowering, Be generous and bountiful O rain The suffering earth make beautiful again.

Old Seas of Self I am emptying old seas of self, Polluted waters, bitter brine That washed upon my spirit's shore, Accumulate of many lives In vessels I have sailed before, Of limited and poor design To chart my way to destiny. And yet the Master Helmsman knows That even though the course may wind And founder on the rocks awhile Eventually the soul shall find The hidden passage that I seek Among the thousand routes of time. His diamond light to guide my way, His star that lives by its own light, His sun that marries night and day, His breath that carries my frail ship Safely to the new world's doors To see him throned resp

To Set the Soul Aflame I caught the thread of an immortal ode Somewhere at the outer edge of mind, A gift it was and graciously bestowed But my skills were weak my knowledge ill-defined, A mediocre bard who penned a line But missed the rhythm and the pulse yet strove To find a motived phrase that would define, The vision that came burdened with such love. I focused prayer as on a candle’s flame Expunging from consciousness the outward sense That sees the world a challenge or a game Or vehicle for personal recompense, Then wande

One We Knew As Wife and Friend All sadness and all sorrow now attend The loss of one we knew as wife and friend, A stalwart soul to bear such pain as this She left and with a last eternal kiss Into the distant reaches soared alone On wings of light to front the vast unknown. We spoke of beauty waiting to be born And laughing gathered in the fragrant morn Flowers joyous from the soil of earth, In Auroville the new world’s symbol birth. Close as birds upon a scented bough We lived a poetry divine, the One to know, In homage to the voice that softly called And in our hearts her radiance installed. Friends do not let the sacred visi