Lone Tune   All that our dark earth was, All it will ever be, Is rooted in the Cause That Is, eternally.   The Silence breaks apart In myriad shreds of time, Leaving a lonely heart, Weaving a lonely rhyme.   Unconscious stars commune In vain with senseless suns, Each winging its lone tune 'In time' — sad, lonesome puns.   O Love, pour forth your grace And make our cracked tones whole; At last, unveil your face, And fold us to your soul. Page-45

Miracle   Your streams of sweet compassion flow Into this desert's parched, still pain; Its secret seed-flames burst aglow,  And soon, a field of golden grain   Wakes dancing in the quiet breeze Of your white love and light and power; Dry sorrow's sands lie drunk with peace,  Pain's cacti come to joyous flower. Page-18

O Dire Magician   O dire Magician, how long will you keep This spirit pegged in rough-hewn stone or tree, Witch-wisdoms jeering at its agony And uncouth passions stalking it in sleep? — Are you then deaf? Do you not hear it weep Within dark rocks, and struggling to be free? The wood imps titter and tease in mockery... Release it, Lord, unweave the midnight deep.   Or is this then your vaunted magic show, Or is some sacred Mystery being played? — 'The isle is full of voices', in the air Whispers of an unearthly beauty flow, And hidden meanings sweet and secrets rare Await the passing of the masquerade. Page-128

The Thorns   The rose is sleeping amid the thorns, The thorns are preening points, Ready to meet the Gatherer An old world-law anoints.   Foul and fair within the air Give no sure sunlight clue; Feign to be the arbiter, And they will punish you.   Feign to be the Chosen One, — Caught in the traps they lay, You'll see the evil mockeries, And wither on the way.   Only Love's hands may take and wake, As ready for the thorn. ... — But will the beauty compensate The blood, the flesh that's torn? Page-126

Is it not time?   Is it not time? Insistent voices call. I cannot breathe. Open the sealed up gates. Oh, hasten now, the fainting spirit waits, Release it, Lord, before it swoon and fall. A lifetime spent in battering down the wall! Exhaustion, agony, the mind's debates, Or wild, unprofitable passion's spates, And wasted wrestling with black storm and squall.   I see, nothing I do can ever avail; This helplessness is all I offer You, This death, this anguish, this blank faceless face; If there's no key, then speak and blast the jail, Or melt the walls to fire, that passing through The heart be gathered to Your heart of Grac

Replies   Earth is full of replies; 0 yearning soul, to all your lonely whys An answer gleams against the heavens, afar, A star.   Because you have heard My pain within me like a wounded bird, I trace the rainbow in the skies again Through rain.   You have seen the plea  Stay waiting in a heart that's wild and free; But when it's dark, the bird must wish the sky Good-bye.   The great nights heal With sorrowed hush the breaking heart's appeal, For through much sacrifice it should have grown A stone.   We say we'll meet Because the ancient hum of hounding feet Still beats upon our lonesome tracks of dre

Presence   O beauteous singing Presence, Who were the heart of me, Why have You sunk in darkness Of the wild, weltering sea?   Churning the deeps of being, Your pillar of light churns hells; Black wave and poison foamings Engulf the stars and cells.   Blue-throated Love, O lift me From the blind night's abyss, Upon the spirit's forehead Plant your white nectared kiss;   And move upon the waters Calming each storm-tost wave, Call forth the moon-white Goddess From the hidden jewelled cave;   Once more unfold your beauty Upon the lotused sea, O golden shining Presence, Who are the heart of me.

Poets   Sometimes I think how strangely rhyme The oddest words with words sublime: Today he said, "X shows such malice..." Before me moved that shining Chalice Touched by those lips divine that spoke Of love. And as Y fumed there broke From his sore wound, "May every curse..." I heard it inly rhyme with "verse", Thought what my friends, the poets, would say: "Verse is a curse", they'd grant, "all day We have no quiet any more, But silly rhymes will pour and pour Into us, till mad with all that fizz We perpetrate stupidities Such as no prophet would prescribe... Should you want wisdom, shun our tribe."   — That is my friends',

Secret of the Night   I asked for darkness; thought me wise and strong, And fit in faith to meet its heaviness; It came, unstarred and mute, lest I transgress To love it only for its stars, its song; - So set me free of sin, inconscient wrong, To leave me in my lonely, pained distress; My crumbled impudence to break and bless, And distribute as bread to the world's throng:   And I, left limp, then saw it face to face, In silent purity against my wound With healing touch; and suddenly I knew The secret of the nights that pass unmooned, The winter-hunger, blindness, choked disgrace, Knew all my dark, my sorrow is but You.

Put off that Mask   Put off that mask of formal hue, And let your secret radiance shine, Unhood the divinity in you, The sweetness of the heart divine.   Why bury all that wealth of grace Beneath the veneer of a pose, Is not the face of love your face, Is not your truth a smiling rose?   That icy look, sharp lines show clear Unlovely feelings flowing unsmooth, Dark shadows which make you appear What you are not in your deep truth.   Ah! all the worlds would dance delight, Should your soul's hidden sun arise; The shades of pain would take their flight, And singing raptures throng the skies. Page-145