I stand between the dawn and the dusk
as the moon stands midst dark and bright
sweet light borrowed from her consort Sun,
and as I wain, darker creatures ever emerge
In the sleep of those anxious and despairing
as if the lights of heaven are disappearing:
dark in that night are those lost sorry souls;
but as I turn face to reflect his light in full,
those cruel fears dissolve each in their turn
giving song to those bright and starry souls.
the road seems to know where it will find itself
away from the town through the hills who surround
its beginning is ever attached to its own final end
and all who follow avoid the fear of twisty bends
for their keen mind knows how they unravel and when
friends watch to see if you should lose your course
off the beaten track they will quickly put you back
upon the road that seems to know where you should go
bordered with flowers of their fearful mind’s desires
for envy blooms bright in suspicion’s starless fire
but as the moon rises and you slumber upon the verge
your heart gifts the wind lonely love songs and a dirge
for from your wild soul to sea shore on to soaring sky
your love without fanfare pours rain shower lullabies
beautiful as you are in your dreams not yet traveled by.
the flames of the summer sun find their way down
into earth falling far as deeper waves of sound
only keen ears might hear their percussion buzz
as they restless seek to ignite their bold passions
for driest woods of summer are what they desire
wood rubbing upon wood, or simply match to a fire
entangled to return in luminous sun they aspire
a billion drops of moonlight shimmer in this dark night
falling as the rain falls, longing for their sun light
but it is earth that they find so densely wet and cold
going inside they melt into strange and foreign forms
grass tussling in the midnight breeze, leaves rustling;
they scatter hither and thither as lovers torn asunder
but in the midst of these I hear Moon’s soft whispering
soul-song with Sun to bridge their separated symphonies
hoping they’ll find each other in tomorrow’s waxing day
there is a path through the plains where they all walk
where grass no longer grows and where the animals balk
familiar is the direction of their ever daily sauntering
hot sun kindly offering to them even their own shadows
yet miracles of these aspects are unseen in their chatting
for there is no wandering in safe and easy circumstancing
and they already know the beginning of the end of the way
earth shaped in so many smiles for the devil’s birthdays
so then it is up to the heavens alone to offer revelations
worlds unimaginable, walking through seas of fire dragons
breathing as the fish do, but through mighty lungs of trees
and I sleep there beneath the waves feeling just your heart
all its light and heaviness, your balance, your falling apart
are also my light and heaviness, my balance, my falling apart
don’t you know now that we are forever lovers together alone
that we sleep to wander beneath a sun of illumined shadows?
I can feel your flowering
as I feel the restless wind
whirling into subtle storm;
so emboldened you will be
that a million stars will envy
your light beautiful becoming
I can barely look upon what I was yesterday or years ago
though I believed by angels the pretty masks were worn
and I’d entertain them with poems to imitate their beauty
yet I was never any of them, not light, not even shadows
just a child’s dream, we adults are but dreams of a child
neither the dusk nor the rosy dawn nor the ghost was I
yet so many lies have filled my heart and feeble mind
I told myself in smiles that betrayed a true lover’s kind,
wiles more cunning than the rising and the falling stars,
identity more consistent than a sun’s eternal repertoire,
making me feel like being alive was half a lonely rhyme
soon will be the day of judgment and my kingdom come
a turning of the tide will arise against my makeshift home
to fall as the walls of towers in the great Flood’s storm
for the wild storm is my heart and soul writhing in pain
trying to pour Love into dreams too imaginary to contain.
all my days the waves have broken upon my quiet lonely shores
and the water weary of my tears would leave me standing forlorn
mind paralyzed by fear of the heavens dancing with passionate sea
mixing sun with seashells and the moon whose mirrors only seem;
My Love, the storm arrived today to break this frightening glass
into a billion sandy pieces crashed illusions between our souls
and the oceans stole them all, every grain upon my coast is lost
sinking to the bottom of the careless salty sea to be forgotten
finding tiny places to hide falling deeper into dark and rotten;
now our hearts freely dive into our river streams’ awakening
lullabies playing with the windy rhythm of our trees breathing
inhaling Spirit into universe and Love into every atom spinning
I invoke the spirits of the wild seas
and all the forces of uneasy heavens,
please shatter within me every illusion,
freedom from every lie I’ve told before
who falsifies the ebb and flow of being;
set me free to discover oceans profound
that my beloved might still recognize me
and not appear in false posture as before;
a form that cannot ever contain this love
water falling through the cage of a dove
in the middle of a salty ocean I thirst
for love that teaches how living is first
how to ride with the whales in the waves
laughing as the sun retires from my days
making way for the deathly light of moon
O give me courage to be born until I die
allow me to see heaven open his wide eyes
for I have seen him before in ancient dreams
we’ve made love as one in the astrals unseen
far from home, far from what’s earthly been
We bounded up, he first and I second,
Until, through a round opening, I saw
Some of the lovely things the heavens hold:
From there we came out to see once more the stars.
Dante, Inferno, Canto XXXIV
I know where you are going, my love,
I wanted to protect you from its fires
where you feared you’d burn to ashes
but you escaped me as if I were you:
mirror, mirror on the bedroom wall
you will remain there reflecting all;
are you still running from hot illusion
or are you now emerging from it’s hell?
but whether you cross ashes or the flame
either to become phoenix or forgotten name
the gods within will never us untimely tell.
The Mysteries of Plato 