In the Soul's Embrace These woods, these trees, these clover-scented fields, The ancient stones on pathways I have trod All sing to me as all my being yields, The humble weed with hidden bloom, the sod So cool and lush that springs beneath my feet, The faces of the once-thought faceless mass In whom I see divinity replete And see myself as in a mirrored glass, Reflecting light that glows from deeper seas Of self that lie concealed in matter's masks, The love that waits its ultimate release And only our sincerity it asks To blossom forth in splendour as the dawn This earth to make the paramour of light And we in bodies beaut

In Every Passing Smile Today will be the same as yesterday, No monumental change perceptible. I shall work for work is all I've known Then look at my new rose and contemplate - Could anything be more perfect than the rose? I saw an Arab child of fifteen months Who smiled at me and in his jet black eyes Held beauty and the wisdom of the rose And everywhere I went I looked in eyes And found in them a meaning like the rose, So many lives, so many souls on earth Choosing to undergo the trials of birth And the progressive evolution of the soul. Heaven must be jealous that they prefer Struggle and death and the cycles of rebirth To angels

Lullaby Close your eyes my lovely one Dive into your world of dream Sleep till night and dark are done Then wake upon the golden stream Of light that fills your little room. Rest now while I sing of kings And angels that dispel all gloom And princesses with silver wings To fly above this world of tears. I cannot follow where you go For time has stolen childhood's years Though this my precious one I know, You are the promise and the sign My treasure and my gift divine.

Surrender and Sincerity Through All Let not this body fail before its time Nor I grow old forgetting why I came, Before me rear the mountains I must climb And the untoward desires I must tame. Let me remember those who blazed the path That hardly I have followed on my way, Calm this heart, the surging seas of wrath, Impatient mind that often rules the day. Lead thou my soul towards the fields of peace Let me not rest unduly, nor let me fall, I ask of thee but two things to increase, Surrender and sincerity through all.

Divine in Mortal Garb To see the inner working hidden here, To be alive to all created things Accepting without repulsion all that is, Unmoved by the upheavals of the earth And the interplay of birth and life and death, To love without desire or demand To give without regard for recompense, To labour not for self but the ideal Of work as dedicated offering In consecrated service to the One Who dwells within yet lives without, above The clash of ego wills and evil deeds, Calm above our days his blessings flow, Worlds on worlds created by His hand, Guide upon the way, divine in mortal garb.

Rain Haiku 8/23/06 Cloud-racked sky Black and grey Cleanse me with your silver rain.

Sing Ye Peoples What songs there are unsung I do not know, There is music other than this world of ours, Angelic voices sing to men below. The hymns of galaxies from distant stars. I have heard their harmonies in briefest strains Choral odes that all the earth can heal, Its sorrow, madness and its fiercest pains If the soul's doors open and the heart could feel The first delight that formed this world of woe So bitter now and yet so passing sweet, The light from which we came, to which we go The Spirit greater by the mind's defeat. Sing ye peoples call the music down, Immortality and joy the destined crown.

In the Transforming Light At once we felt a certain force descend That touched upon disciples seated there, As if a great-winged bird of Paradise Descended from a far supernal air. In the simple light of evening we endured The power and the plenitude of Grace And blessings that in sacred stillness wrapped The yearning soul and brightened every face. All with an inner radiance shone, a glow, A warmth and sweetness born of one desire, To live forever in that atmosphere That fills our lives and lifts us ever higher. With the acquiescence of the vital force And with the heart's consent, the body's cells From the chains of our mortality

Knowledge of the Soul I too have seen the darkened resident Encompassing the soul in mortal beings, Have felt the lash, the sting of wounding words The anger rising from the wells of hate To flood all living things with toxic waste; But I have seen the light in women's eyes The strength of purpose and the truth in men, Unconquered joy in poverty's despair And children laughing through the world's disgrace. I know that there shall come a lasting peace Though only now Evil's face is seen, For we shall overcome the limiting mind, The lust that spent is never satisfied, The need to dominate, the endless greed – All shall be changed as dark

The Empty Chalice I have built a warming fire in my heart As winter sends his greetings to the trees, My late chrysanthemums arrive in joy Camellias in sculptured beauty blossom forth. Though I grow old in human years I pray For many more my youthful self to learn The undiscovered continents of mind To be revealed in the silence of the soul. Today was an extraordinary day. For the first time I became aware Of the enchanting fragrance of magnolia wood And the tenaciousness of a certain weed Among the iris singing by the lake. What is yet to come is a glory wrapped and sealed, Almost invisible to the outer eye, Revealed in beauty to the one