I awoke this morning
a poem flowing out of me
taking me from dreamland to morning light
An acknowledgement of all the Shadows
and the rightness of all the things I hide
A poem that wouldn’t end
because everything is part of it
A poem I couldn’t share, wouldn’t dare
for fear no one could understand but me.
A cat nuzzled me awake
Odor of an acrid litterbox
All perfect.
Before my feet touched the floor,
I realized
I am the poem I dreamed,
My life is the poem
written not for forty-seven years
But written from the first breath
I breathed,
the first body I owned.
Now there are billions
as much me as I am
living life in different circumstances
As I live life in mine.
All rage is mine, all love is mine,
all indifference and confusion mine.
I somersault naked off of water buffaloes behind the Taj Mahal,
And in Norfolk share the laughter.
I’m not alive
I’m life.
I’m awake.
Wow, Jon, I just stumbled across your great site this afternoon and find you have just posted this wonderful poem! What led me to you was a weeklong silent retreat at home and an intense study of the mystics, guided by Andrew Harvey’s ‘Son of Man’ and Evelyn Underhill’s classic ‘Mysticism’. I suddenly remembered the famous quote that “mysticism begins in mist and ends in schism” and a quick search brought up your site where you quote it.
I will certainly be coming back for more inspiration!
I also just found this lovely piece about how mysticism is like poetry over at The Website of Unknowing which is on your list of Fellow Travellers: http://anamchara.com/2008/03/05/how-mysticism-is-like-poetry/
This is a great Poem, Jon. I really love it. “I’m not alive. I’m life.” Good grief, that’s perfect!
I will say that your wording reminds me of my song “The Air Up There.” In fact, I feel like it’s a RESPONSE to that song in a way. My version starts off the same but is all about the frustration of drowning in the drama of life… while yours is the hopeful realization that all is One. Dig!
felt a brush upon my face and sat up from my slumber-
startled by the purring in my ear.
this calico, that i named MoFo, stepped upon my chest
and reminded me, so rudely, that she needed fed.
when i hit the floor, and opened the door,
little did i know i cracked a dam…
a wave rushed in and pulled me under
and as i struggled through the water,
my first thoughts were, “the toilet’s overflowed.”
but as i choked and gasped for air,
what i soon discovered was:
it was the life i had created ushering my death.
well, the water down here is frightful-
but the air up there: delightful-
you have to choose if you’ll drown or float
i think i’ll build me a boat.
Wow! That really is close! Amazing, really, since I haven’t heard the song. I think it’s further evidence that we aren’t our thoughts… the thoughts are a product of the One mind, and get sent to the available receptors.
Great song! I think I’m about to become a Trev Harden fan!
Wow, really beautiful and stirring 🙂 A great poem…
Peace and Blessings!
Much to share and discover…thank you for sharing life, your life.
I, too, am being drawn to Catholicism…and my transport has been Fr. Richard Rohr of the Center for Action and Contemplation in ABQ, NM.
http://www.cacradicalgrace.org
We are one, dear Jon.
Peace and Love.
Tom
Thanks, Tom, I’m glad to have you here, and I quite agree: Fr. Rohr rocks!
Great poem! I’d like to encourage you to post it on the Discussion Board at the Facebook group “Coffee Mystics” – I know our caffienated mystics would love it!