I See You

I want to
tell you
that I
see you.

You have
something
you want to
show us.

For a minute or
an hour or
a day
you were in
The Mystery,

and you found
Something.

It glows with
Divinity and
Holy
Beauty.

It’s a tune, or
a photograph, or
a sentence.
A dance step, or
a vision, and
you’ve painted it.

Something wriggling
with hilarity, or so
sensual you can’t
sit still.

The Creator of
All That Is
handed it
to you and
asked you to
show us.

That’s why
you’re here,
Silly!

Did you think
it was to
behave yourself?

(Photo by Darius Soodmand; Unsplash)

 

Shazam!

I was raised
in Sunday School
where we sang,
with our small
voices,

“One door, and
only one, and yet
its sides are
two.
I’m on the
Inside,
on which side
are You?”

Me Inside,
You Outside,
still haunts me.
A cursed bias
that resists
exorcism.

But I Am
tricking it into
serving me
as an Instigator
of Awareness.

When it shows
its ugly face
I smile at it
and say,

“Thank you for
reminding me
that those
divine beings
who surround
me

are neither In
nor Out.
They are simply
and eternally
the Beloved
Them.”

And, Shazam!
I am Back
Onstage in
The Mystery,

playing
my part
while you play
yours.

Bravo!

(Photo by Gage Walker; Unsplash)

 

Novel Lives

I’m walking
the dog
when I spot
him,
up ahead on
the path,

The Man
With Much
To Say
About Not Much
of Anything,

and now
I’ll need to
put an extra
twenty minutes
on the Walk Clock.

Then I remember
that I have begun
to believe that
he and
I and
you and
they
have all
lived many
lives,
enough to fill
dozens of those
novels I’m
pining to
read,
especially the
one waiting
for me
whenever I
figure out how
to slip past
The Man
With Much
To Say.

But now
he’s become
The Man of
Many Lives,

and that’s
a whole
different
Story.

(Photo by Caspar Rae; Unsplash)

 

Ads from Paradise

I was flipping
through the
Classified Ads
from Paradise
when I came
across this:

The Powers
That Be
are looking for
Volunteers,

for a demonstration
project to
exhibit the
devotion, the
adoration, the
billowing clouds of
love

The Creator-In-Chief
feels for Creation.

Applicants
should be
deeply flawed,
buried to
their necks
in self-doubt and
the conviction
that they are
fatally infected
with laziness, or
habitually
short-falling, or
unable to
overcome
multiplying variants of
self-inflicted
ineptitude.

I have already
submitted my
application –
I’m a shoo-in –
but I am
assured that
no one
will be turned
away.

I’m also told
that with
this demonstration
of the Divine
Embrace,

the Intention
is to overwhelm
any resistance
you may have
to being
celebrated for
being exactly
the Screw-Up
you are.

(Photo by Sergio Gonzalez; Unsplash)

 

Curtains

A wise man
called your
Soul
the gateway to
The Mystery.

It’s called
The Mystery
because when
you followed
your Soul
from there,
into a lifetime
inhabiting
your body,

a curtain
was drawn
behind you,
just as the one
before you
opened,
along with
your eyes.

But it’s just
a curtain.

So play
the part
you came
to play,

it wouldn’t
be the same
without you,

but let your
Soul
slip behind
the curtain –
you can be here
and there –

and let
The Mystery
envelop
your stage
Presence,

as it passes
through
the gateway
of your
Soul.

(Photo by Ian Keefe; Unsplash)

 

Birthright

You came to
this Life with
deep desire
to create
your Self a
Work of Art.

You are
offspring of
a Creator
who said
“Let there be Light,”

and every
Thing
is made of
Light and
Love of Light.

You’re an
Artist
by Birthright
and nature and
skill,

and in your
Soul’s eye
you see
the Work of
your Lifetime.

But you
may have been
overcome
by occasional
days of
deceiving
darkness,

that deluded
you into
believing
you came here
on some sort of
repair and
maintenance
project.

Enlightenment
awaits the
moment
you remember
you are an
Artist.

(Photo by Toa Heftiba; Unsplash)

 

Matinee

The Light
that ever was
passes through
the Prism of
Creation
into a billion
Fractals
that spread
out and
backward and
forward
until Time
has no meaning.

Fractals grow
heartbeats and
breath and
roots and
limbs and
fingers and
paws and
hooves,

the costumes
for the Fractals,
who were
never born,
will never die,
who love to
play the
tragicomedramedies
now and ever
showing at
that Theater
on the corner of
the Cosmos and
Broadway.

It’s a Monday
afternoon and
I’ve landed
a part in
the matinee
performance.

I play a
man sitting
with his wife,
in a small town
coffeeshop,
with a cappucino
and a chocolate
doughnut,

trading lines
with a teenage
barista
who understands
the need to
turn up the
volume on the
Led Zeppelin.

(Photo by Brooke Cagle; Unsplash)

 

Heartbeat

If the same
heartbeat
that throbs
the Cosmos
throbs you –
it does –
then know
this:

Say what
you may
of broken
hearts –
it feels
that way
from time
to time –

that Heart
of all hearts
has always
beat
and always
will.

So let none
tell you that
you’re
broken,
especially
your Self.

The Heart
that beats
in you
has never
broken,
and never
will.

Let none say
you’re made
of dust,
to which
you will
return.

That’s just
a playful
whirlwind,
a dance,
a ride.

You’re not
broken,
you cannot
be.

When the
spinning stops,
you’ll still be
a heartthrob.

(Photo by Designecologist: Unsplash)

 

Behind Your Eyes

Have you
noticed
that the
Presence
behind
your eyes

is still
Awakening,

even as your
body begins to
dematerialize
into blurred
lines and
shadows
of the taut
and muscled
definition
it once was?

You are more
Aware
of What Is
than you’ve
ever been,
especially when
you thought
you were
your smooth
skin.

Do you still
imagine
that the
Soul
that grows
more Alive
with every
breath

will be
trapped
in your
ashes?

(Photo by Dhaval Parmar; Unsplash)

 

Speakeasy

Have you
discovered
the Password
to your
Speakeasy?

The Shibboleth
that swings
open
the doorway
to the
Sanctum,

where you are
beloved and
held in such
esteem

that a grinning
spirit
greets you,
bearing
words or
a tune or
an image or
a dance move,

on a silver
platter
held in red
velvet gloves?

Or an invitation
to close your
eyes
while reclining on
a silk cushion
disguised as
your couch
and
daydream
what it means
to be
divine?

When a
Wise One said
“Ask and it will be
given
to you,
Seek and you will
find,
Knock and
the door will be
opened
to you,”

I believe
He was talking
about your
Speakeasy.

(Photo by Crew; Unsplash)