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

Sacred Journey – The Pondicherry Pier We walked on the decaying pier Claimed by centuries of sea, The unremitting crash of waves Upon the shores of destiny. Like one whose legs are cut from him The rotting pylons swept to sea All pride of strength washed away Tumbling ignominiously. With careful steps we reached the end At night when sea and sky were one And looked within our depths to find The secret of the mystic sun That burns so bright in human breasts, Illumining the dark conclave Where error joins wi

She Who Labours Here Then shall we stand iron-willed for Life Against the tides of time that on us rush While death raps daily at the body's door, Or to our human weaknesses succumb And many lives' travail sum up to nought, Or call a higher power in the cells, A flame to light the darkened cave of mind And calm's descent into the frantic pace Of impulses, antagonists of peace That move our arms to slay, our hearts to hate And boil the blood with insatiable desire Or drown us in a torpor of malaise? I hav

For my beloved Tehmi Place Her Softly Now Wipe the tears of sleep from aged eyes No more to witness this world's joy and pain, Close them gently let the spirit fly To rest above the sorrows of this sphere That turns upon a spindle moved by God. For we, remaining, surely have been blessed By those great spirits oft descended here Who cast their godlike glance upon this scene Of human folly where we in ignorance Seek for love in barren fields of clay And tormented deserts, parched and impotent. Heaven's chosen in our lives appear From an unknown hand bestowing gifts of grace To lift our fallen heads that we may se

From the Ashes of Our Sorrow Now far from those with whom I share the quest In a solitary scene I pace the days And wander in a state of soul unrest Uncertain in a dull and gathering haze. It seems the spirit cannot overcome The human heart's propensity for grief For all the mental faculties are numb And I founder on a godforsaken reef. Although safe passage looms the will is weak The exit wounds of centuries I feel From arrogant unconsciousness to meek Subservience upon my being's seal. I have seen the great sarcophagi of kings In darkened naves where stained glass marries dust, In the great cathedral solitary rings

Fireweed We saw vast fields of time's immortal flowers Ablaze beneath the pale Alaskan sun And stood on glaciers carved in primeval hours Who watched earth born, destroyed, again begun. We wandered there at twilight and I knew This place my spirit recognized as home, A world of icy splendour shot with blue Surrounded by a sea of frozen foam. White were the skies at the season's too-swift end, The whales moved southward to a warmer tide, If only once all time I might suspend Beloved friend, eternal summer's bride, I would wish this moment be immortal made, And yet how can undying love fade?