In the Blue of the Flame

I don't want
to sit around
or sing and dance
and tell stories
around a sacred fire,

I want to stand
in the blue
of the flame -
naked,
groundless,
yet alive,

tempered by
an unquenchable longing
to meet myself
in my fiery wholeness,
reclaiming the majesty
and insignificance
of what I am
and what I'm here to do,
in a world that's content
to share stories around a fire,
too terrified to burn
its fingers and toes.

The Last Supper

today I feel a heaviness
that I want to carry,
without understanding
or even naming -
not for you,
not for the world
you gave yourself to,
but for myself;

today I want to feel
and drink the heaviness
as I look into your eyes,
to see you raise the cup
of sweet wine
flowing from the hearts
of your fellow men,
poured into their work;

today I want to feel
and taste the heaviness
as I touch your form,
to watch you break the bread
with the fullness and largeness
of a universe in a universe,
living for and feeding on
a billion blazing suns;

only today, can I sit with you
across the same table,
to feast on life -
yours and mine,
and come to understand
what it is to serve
and to be served
by Life.

Purpose

and when someone asked me:
what do you want to do in life?
what are your dreams?
what are your deepest desires?
I smiled to myself
and looked up
into the sky,
and I saw
a bird
a cloud
a setting sun
and a million stars
laughing
with the moon,
doing the same thing
day after day -
simply celebrating
themselves,
and all of life.

The Fire

there is a fire.
in your belly.
you burn.
burn all of yourself.
slowly. gently.
there is no hurry.
it is your burning
that fans the flames
of the whole world,
which looks for light,
where there is
only darkness.

Soul Whisperer

I hear you whisper
beneath my skin,
breath drawn
and freed,
within;
flying birds
follow the sun,
to return home
as the blinds
are drawn -
clarion calls
from the
soul whisperer
through the many
shades of dusk;
life's longing
to break free
from
this trapping
that we call
human.