SPELLBOUND COLLECTED POEMS
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SPELLBOUND Without plans I live with You. Without thinking about you, without seeing you. Knowing nothing, what can I be but happy? Knowing nothing means to face You. Facing you, you bring a smile to my lips. Isn’t this the fountain of life?
These collected poems came out of spiritual experience and of its ongoing revelation. They are founded in a deep and profound relationship with the mystery we call God, Spirit or the Divine. It is a super-natural bond that does not disclose its secrets easily. Like in a romantic love relationship the secrets shared are often too difficult to put into words. Poetic language can render some of this beauty into script, describing and sensing a world beyond the normal. Tenderness and frailty often comes to mind. Yet the very words themselves clads the pristine experience in colorful and descriptive garments that reveals unknown aspects of the unfolding drama that we call life. Bjorn Saw, May 2015
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Beauty Turn inside out Flesh exposed and Nerves laid bare In our weakness On our knees There is tremendous grace Your innermost love
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A Many-Splendored Thing Spirit filled light filters into my chest Soft mist unlocks a stony heart Not my will but Yours This communion is what makes us human When my friend came home her daughters naturally fell into grace The most natural thing for those we love while her friends questioned this and questioned that Disbelief is such a grieving matter This divine nature is what we share when we invite Jesus into our lives Gods grace is a place in which we live a room where lovers see eye to eye
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Our Joy In this room I feel more at home Seclusive and delusional I managed to build a cell Sound proof and insular Hearing my heart beat Counting my luck Joy is welling up No I wont audition Can't bear the public vote Having retired from the common norm So I only may speak with You
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Wind Song Let my song be a wind song Let me come over you like a sea-breeze Wrap your hair around you Caressing the surface of the Ocean Waves trying to keep up beneath Move across sandy beaches Up and over hills I gather speed, rise up high Stretching the clouds out far and wide Like long white veils Making the sun cast fire upon the evening sky
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Fire Long forgotten Uncertain pieces of memory Fragments dissolving faster than can be reassembled The past burning up Closing the gap till now No time to reminisce Got to keep ahead Of the wildfire closing in from behind Soon there will be only present Flames overtaking thought
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A Shout So Loud There is a scream Coming from the universe A shout so loud nobody hears it It covers every pocket of space Like freshly fallen snow Dresses landscapes in the purest of white It breaks the grip of time It pierces through space It courses eternally It's the beginning and the end
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Final Freedom A softness falls over me and my thoughts flow effortlessly into patterns Gently it becomes clear “ I have sole responsibility for the wellbeing of every living being I have sole responsibility for the welfare of the whole planet� Never a burden But something I have always wanted There is so much love in wanting this Love for every single person Love for this wonderful Earth All sense of self fades away until nothing remains Name and person disappears, history erased White light fills body, space and mind My body returned, resurrected My voice given back, unimpeded 9
Life revealed to be a blessing and spontaneously words of gratitude and praise were spoken Earth became my closest ally, my dearest friend Like a bed and pillow, so close and so near The ground itself bore witness to our union With a resurrected glorified body, at one with my Father Holy and by an act of mercy Final freedom
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Be Longing Bright sunshine covers the both of us and as our sisters and brothers join their smiles confirms what's in our hearts All hoods and veils are down cool shades pocketed Eyes speak the language of love or like Stepping into a natural pool -careful the water is hot slowly sink in to your chin Recline back, take a deep breath look across Your friend returning your smile So now can we see that we all share all of our experiences in the same way The same joy, the same pain That's why we laugh together cry together, exist together 11
See, I Make All Things New When you hear these words do you hear? Look, see I make all things new These words holds belief There is faith already in the reading  There's a wonderful mystery to it our mind cannot grasp it but it resonates in our heart See, I make all things new I turn water into wine Belief is acknowledging his voice in your heart as you read what he told us See, I make all things new 12
It Stirs It begins deep inside a stir a gentle breeze calling me away Early in the morning I hear it like a long lost memory soft sound of waves returning to the sea It begins like a rumor not yet distinct like when you sense someone's at the door This gentle calling catches me unaware 13
when I settled down for the day work all done then it comes again and makes me share it with you
Unforgivable Deep time shifts layers of self Whose memories hold no information Bar its own Standing in our present time Like upon a sheet of thin glass dissolving Our feet falls through Reaching the very beginning Of creation itself How we all stretch from beginning to end Endlessly now
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Spell Bound Waves like of a tuning fork Resonates through the body I relax and let go Of all my desires I can feel my toes Now with intention I expand Filling the whole universe With my soul Breathing in, I close the light of day Breathing out gently, it all comes alive again How is this not ordinary? My eyes turns into constellations And I loose count Of how many times you've said I love you
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Wishing you were here Brings you closer to me My will, I realize Is a mighty sword To sweep this night away
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Wide Open Plains There is this declaration of a wide open field As far as the eye can see there is no obstruction So smooth so plain the wind has ample space to roam free The sun covers every inch not the slightest shadow at noon The air is fresh just the best for breathing in I stand at its edge and even as I turn it follows me around I look down, I look up the ground stretches now in all directions How wonderful this truth is feet firmly planted and all around wide open plains 17
Bertil, My Father My father died I lit some candles to drive out the cold I spoke words of farewell don't worry about us we're ok please forgive me I love you dad be on your way At home with mum snowfall in the street lights I tell her he's here She looks up and nods that is what we feel Inside filling up Grief is but loves release 18
A Shared Passion I'm living in a world that has yet to come into existence The only way to make it real is to bring you into it I can glorify it, rave about it, but without your help it won't come into being It is like.. I want to light a fuse wire, set off an avalanche
Open Arms Let go with both your hands Rely on the infinite mass just beyond your reach The treasure storehouse needs no inventory How futile trying to define ourselves from what we hold in our hands
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Come To The Water Come to the spring refresh your soul listen to its melody softly it springs to mind remember sweet embrace See its reflection inside your heart softly it churns Scoop a handful drink wash your face cool on hot skin Come to the water
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I Have One Desire As you rise I want to rise with you When you speak I want to be your tongue As you listen I overhear You find it funny like an echo Being one in this relationship before we were two Like twins one thinking, the other speaking No but I.. on it goes till we lost sight of who's who
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When you lie down I will sit on your bed Waiting till you get up again mimicking your every move It almost annoys you but you find yourself lifted by strong arms knowing your every turn Blessed union, too wonderful to comprehend You take a chance handing over your will We hold our breath
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I don't know how you caught up with me Never thought you find me on this little planet Long time in the coming but better late then never You rushed in and I was born a second time Wrestling with my new inheritance it turns into play Go on friend I won't stand in your way no more
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Communion We walk backwards Till we enter into union It's already here Waiting to be possessed Through our language Our common tongue One body, not two One mind Not mine, not yours
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Silent Within When we fall quiet Silent within When we become still Motionless This room Has not limits In it our intelligence rests And our knowing merges So when we rise And lay eyes on each other You become my brother Nay even closer, my other
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Self Confession To speak Your Name When you can't wait to hear it Said out aloud Proves the greatest risk Professing knowledge Of your whereabouts Is like leaving the door ajar For you to return home Bearing testimony of You Will not hold up in court I am sentenced long before I have a chance to plead my case
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As my only witness You disclose nothing Rendering my defense obsolete Alas, you will have to serve time with me Since you can’t stand Leaving me alone
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AUTHOR
Bjorn Saw (born 1963) is a Swedish national living in England. He is a gardener by profession and teach Aikido full time in his club in north London. Bjorn was a student of American spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen between 1991 and 2003. His relationship to his Guru catapulted him into a continuos presence of what he calls the divine; the ultimate reality just beyond our reach. Bjorn has written several books on Aikido, its philosophy and history, and also published a self-biographical odyssey describing his meeting and relationship with his spiritual mentor and its ensuing freedom. He continues to write blogs and notes of a spiritual nature to be collated into book form once edited and transcribed.
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SPELLBOUND COLLECTED POEMS
“Smoke gets into my eyes sitting by the fire all day”
© Bjorn Saw 2015 London UK xxix