IMMEASURABLE PEACE BLANKETS ME

IMMEASURABLE PEACE BLANKETS ME M BUCHANAN

IMMEASURABLE PEACE BLANKETS ME Poems & prose by M Buchanan

CONTENTS The Demon’s Hooves For Wanderers A Healing Serene Surrender - Part One Resilience - Part One Murmuring in Sleep Possess For Banks Savage Ways The Tremor, Tremble and Break The Vulture More of Us Than Them Your Wounds These Walls Hold a Translucent Sheen Interwoven An Abandonment A Freedom - Part One A Freedom - Part Two Resilience - Part Two Resilience - Part Three Self/Compassion Calling/Falling A Healing - Part One Joy Over Pain Wash My Sins Away Loss and Peace A Renunciation - Part One The Muddy Paws of Stray Dogs Catchment Flames The Two Voices The Space A Silence A Ship Encaged A Battle Serene Curling Sea Fifty Horses Inside All Strain Falling

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Your Light and You Resilience - Part Four Beating the Dark A Healing - Part Three The Galloping Stillness An Escape Leak Into Light A Freedom - Part Three Know Love The Gentle Light The Cycle Deflection A Love Serene A Prevailing Harmony The Vibration A Renunciation - Part Two You as Spirit Time and Its Prison Bars Colour That Decays The Spirit A Healing - Part Two The Glow Your Resonance Love and Recede Wholly Through the Pale Dark

40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65

“I don’t want to be called upon here and there by all these impressions. I want to be free. I want to be free.”

- Pir Viliyat Inayat Khan

THE DEMON’S HOOVES Today showed disappointment’s soil; Though it keeps no impressive wealth, Though it holds no illustrious health, Its deeds it seems are just to spoil.

Beneath my skulls sheets, it does toil.

Today I’m adoration incarnate.

To surrender and to embrace, To freeing and corporeal grace, To batter at coils ‘til they’re straight, To lighten the tread of all its weight.

The roots entangled are natures wires; They are nature showing defense, They are nature defending against The refusal of brilliant fires That rage within, and cannot tire.

It’s strange how one day can illustrate hell; How woeful that it’s demons can stray so far.

Their deafening trample upon our path Has woken us to sound our bells, So here can’t be a place they dwell.

1

FOR WANDERERS Light steps fell on heavy soil­­— For wanderers long, For wanderers resting, For wanderers lost, For wanderers far.

For wanderers passing beyond at last— For unending, cyclic, floral paths, For their truth in guiding us.

Let it circle and let it surround The space between here and far.

Let it slowly dance around Where pale dark starts, Where pale dark abounds.

2

A HEALING SERENE Tooth upon tooth, jaw upon jaw; gnashing the tears. You cannot feel without strain and you cannot love enchained. Truth upon youth, claws upon flaws; thrashing the tears.

There is loss and there is gain. You cannot heal without pain.

3

SURRENDER - PART ONE Two bodies wading deep.

Into the shallow, Close to retreat.

Mere steps from frail bark, From twisting and turning And soft steps far.

Among the curling days and weeks, Among the grips of unpromise, Along its length and crease.

4

RESILIENCE - PART ONE Penetrating the chasms of lost growth— Heedless and wavering, The reins did flutter around the bird’s throat, Though no relief or strain would shift the frost upon the rope.

As binding as silk fences, The reins did breathe and flow.

As binding as cotton chains, The reins absorbed the glow.

5

MURMURING IN SLEEP I caught a glimpse of paradise in the back of your eyes.

It’s sleeping in the back of your mind and in the back of mine.

It’s sleeping in the thoughts of those lost and left behind.

A shard of light tumbled down upon the earth tonight.

A hint of truth became unbound and let us all rest bright.

Let us rest with peace in our heads and all health in our minds; Tear a chance for breath again from every pale light.

The sweetness of one voice murmuring in sleep Was the colour in seas, Was the colour in endless shores, Was the colour in forest trees, Was the blackness in the earth’s last stand, Was the wonder in all dreams.

The sweetness of one voice murmuring Passed by me with ease.

6

POSSESS Old bloom embrace the shadow now, Clutch the passing light.

Pounce on flaking moments That fall away so bright— That fall away upon the sands And are hauled away in fright.

Those mauled by pouncing fevers Who eye off our glory and heights.

Might there be spared a forgotten footstep To drag us into the light, To drag us toward the savior Kept in nature’s bright.

Gather again bright fallen moments; Haul them over lands.

Protect this gift of living Within calloused hands.

High upon the brightest peaks, Stand with your health and pride.

Then in unforgiving seas, Wade along the raging tides.

7

FOR BANKS Drift peacefully onward now, Peacefully, unharmed, and free.

Drift peacefully onward now, Shining eternally.

May there be a victory in your crashing, Within your defeat.

May it’s voice echo out Through our lengthened creaks.

Let yourself pass on past, Untouched, unharmed, and free.

Let yourself pass at last Onward, eternally.

8

SAVAGE WAYS Love the nameless and perish the divide.

There lies a rapture in their thoughts, We’ve nowhere left to hide.

There lies a rapture on the celestial shore, Or so we had been taught, Or so we had been wired, Or so we had thought, So finally we did tire.

As all good will was shadowed out And we were left to fend.

Savage ways haul, Savage ways spend, Savage ways will never last, Savage ways will end.

Savage ways walk, Savage ways bend, Savage ways try, Savage ways will end.

Savage ways will bolt and dart, Savage ways defend.

Savage ways will fall away, Savage ways will end.

9

THE TREMOR, TREMBLE AND BREAK There was a tremor in your footstep, In your bare attempt.

There was a quiver in your lips, In your steps all bent.

There was a tremble in your stride, In your stumble down.

There was a crack in the fire, In the caving sound.

There’s a break to come in every length; Every weight will flee.

Flee far from our bodies’ strength To distant, dark, foul seas.

10

THE VULTURE Gladly towing idle limbs Through the desert sands, Desert fires, Desert flames, Desert storms, Desert plains.

Talons stay clutching, Talons stay.

Let pure strain be your footsteps; Let pure light lead the way.

Talons stay clutching, Talons stay.

Let all wandering circle us here, Let all loss be afraid.

11

MORE OF US THAN THEM We need all hate to tumble down; To rust the cores of riches out, To fumble it’s precious crowns.

We need all hate to pass in age, To stop and last no longer here, To be locked in a lightless cage.

We need all hate to rust and fall, To be lost in hazy memory, To not answer fierce calls.

We need all hate to keep quiet and bound; To struggle in sunken depths, To hastily be unwound.

We need all hate to wilt and fade; To circle in Earth’s drains, To finally flow away.

We need all hate to crush under weight, To look into the light of our glistening towers, To fear what we’ve made.

We need all hate set alight, To be smoke trails in the distance, To lie as blackened coal in cold nights.

We need all hate to fall hard, To graze its rickety knees, To end here and pass.

We need all hate to cease its marks, To lighten it’s tread ‘til nothing’s left Upon our loving paths.

12

YOUR WOUNDS How do your wounds fare now? Is there a coarse history within your callouses, and within your receding words and thoughts? The pulse within your self-protection, within your gallant, protruding walls, and within their vibrations could move the earth and make it stall. How do your wounds fare now? Why does your kindness set you resting in halt? Why does it demand immersion when you should solely glow? The wrapping weight of failure around gallant, protruding walls, and within their patience could push the earth and make it haul.

13

THESE WALLS HOLD A TRANSLUCENT SHEEN There is a traction in escape, Within galloping and it’s shape.

Within gravel just as the green, These walls hold a translucent sheen, There is belief sheltered within.

Self and tautness be not akin.

More than struggle will ever mean; These walls hold a translucent sheen.

Chaotic nature should not form, In magnetic love, should not warm.

Electric love is pure and clean.

These walls hold a translucent sheen.

Healing could just as well wipe clear, But braided fear invaded here.

While woven fear keeps whole the screen, These walls hold a translucent sheen.

The sun of your war shouldn’t set, It should retreat once you have met With your power and once you’ve seen, These walls hold a translucent sheen.

14

INTERWOVEN Bathe our names in the beauty of the world, Lay our dreams in a wreath upon the earth.

Grow on and soar on past the crooked light; Soar on with cracked wings waxed with all worth.

Bathe our names in the beauty of the world; May our seams forever be interwoven in every length and curl.

May precious storms circle and rage above our heads; May their strength be cast over us within a single hurl.

Bathe our names in the beauty of the world.

Raze the black wind engulfing us and cast it out ever furled.

Lay our seams forever hoven over then passed under low; Lay our dreams forever together in the beauty of the world.

15

AN ABANDONMENT As years hacked from the mountain’s heart­— So wearily they sway; Beautifully unadorned, Pure and astray.

Peacefully may their roots be reborn, Wavering and unstrained.

Drenched in lengths of harmony, Ever glow and never fade.

Every row down streams of joy, Ever flow and raze.

Raze old ways that lay carried, Leave them behind to fray.

Fray in the wind, Fray in the seas, Fray in the lightning, Fray in the breeze.

Hollow be the quiet place Where all dread did stay.

16

A FREEDOM - PART ONE I want to be free, I want to be free.

I want to burn bridges between crushing waves and me.

I want to learn patience between pure strain and leaps.

I want to be free, I want to be free.

I want to pass cages, pass through the weeds, Pass past the crutches and pass through unease.

I want to be free, I want to be free.

17

A FREEDOM - PART TWO Longing dissolve and decompose.

Fade over the hill While lacking growth.

Sown in patches of worn soil, Rattling below, Where weeds just coil.

Where needs keep low, Where needs just toil.

Halting in your lux and flow; Fail over passing time.

Swayed toward earth fallow, Beneath long fallen vines.

18

RESILIENCE - PART TWO With a solemn sustain in our pace, We pass like molasses through the rat race.

With the earth on a leash We scurry around, We burrow down, Heaving their chains.

We reach with all strain­— We cast out that which disintegrates Toward the waves to drown, To buckle and ruin for now.

19

RESILIENCE - PART THREE Cowards in their triumph And in their tortuous ways.

Their ever celebration of wretched decay.

Their celebration of flooding good withering away.

With withering still lingering And choking out the bay; There stands a body full and entire, A body all unswayed.

20

SELF/COMPASSION Love fellow man endlessly, Love fellow self all free.

Stampede over crushing limbs And over falsity.

Stampede above thrashing waves And above all treacherous seas.

Upward to soar on and on; Pass all worry caught in the breeze.

Pass through abandonment, Pass by the fear, Pass through the dim light, Pass by and stay here.

Pass through with all might, Pass by all pure and clear.

Pass through the pale dark, Pass by and stay here.

21

CALLING/FALLING Sense and reason coil and call, Unabashed they decompose, Through crushed light, they slowly fall.

If set loose they’d surely maul, They’d trample every blossomed rose.

Sense and reason coil and call.

Within fear, the dark does haul.

Neither comfort nor dark truly knows.

Through crushed light, they slowly fall.

Throughout my thoughts’ brittle wall, Resonance; it plants and grows.

Sense and reason coil and call.

Upon the earth, they do crawl With broken feet and buckled toes.

Through crushed light, they slowly fall.

The dark was always ten feet tall, Comfort the same once it arose.

Sense and reason coil and call, Through crushed light, they slowly fall.

22

A HEALING - PART ONE It sang inside the lion’s heart— In wait, it gently swayed.

It dwells in the cracks of every mosaic, It’s trampled by parades.

It’s water by the pail Poured upon to cleanse.

Upon the tundra of incessant halt To heal its aches and bends.

It rests alone in quiet wait To wrench at threads undone.

It rattles each and every gate Of those left to outrun.

23

JOY OVER PAIN The ache to have joy on reserve. Celebratory turbulence buckled and bent. It pulled downward to float through a space unrepining. Waves of peace reverberated through unwavering walls. Joy should be known and not confined. I don’t know your pain and you don’t know mine.

24

WASH MY SINS AWAY The beauty of this earth, The waste of its sins, Both sleep together Within, within.

Swaying strong, Swaying thin.

Years ago I read a verse and sweetly in my hands it lay And there its words did softly say; “Wash my sins away, away, wash my sins away.”

And there I stopped as pillars swayed, Stopped as pillars stayed.

25

LOSS AND PEACE Immeasurable peace blankets me Among the roots of my minds weeds.

Loss, don’t penetrate my thoughts; Be caught in my skulls soil.

Plant yourself in its loving beds And thread in through its coils.

Heavily, peace blankets me Among deep woods in the pockets of my dreams.

Longing, don’t penetrate my thoughts; Be caught by my hulls impervious walls.

Unconscionable peace, blanket me; Flood on through the whole of my being.

Time, shatter all my thoughts; Carry them out with ease.

Plant them within lightless beds With the sun reflecting off me.

26

A RENUNCIATION Hold the weave and worship the fray.

Clutch the light and delight in decay.

Cyclic fear is a lightless way, A flightless way; The weight in chains.Â

27

THE MUDDY PAWS OF STRAY DOGS Soaked in love’s breath, Safely rest.

Send out all along the earth, All paths to the crest.

Let it soak in soil caught in the tufts Of stray dogs wandering, Of stray dogs lost, Of stray dogs left in natures breath; Left in natures rest.

28

CATCHMENT Deafening cracks of lightning and thunder, Rumbling aloud and fumbling about.

While you lie dreaming in my arms, While you lie without harm, May all protection circle you; Ten feet tall and impenetrable.

Walls surrounding through and through.

Fire casting all evil away from you— Flames with calm hands, Flames out of sight, Flames that are unseen in the night.

May all protection surround you, May it always be at your side.

May all protection dance around you, Every step with pride.

May all true worth circle you, Let old pain pass away.

Let love rain down on you, Let harm be led astray.

29

FLAMES The flames in those eyes light trails alive.

In the dreams of aching mines, In abandoned fields, In weary pride, In floral yards, In nature’s paths, In the bark of aging pines, And in the depths of arcs.

The flames in those eyes write peace in lines.

In nests of black fire, In frightful corners, And in all of Earth’s wires.

30

THE TWO VOICES The sound of the worlds last two voices, Quiet and abashed.

Moving together in harmony, Eternally latched.

Weaving their threads upon each other, Protecting each other from dread.

They took each other hand in hand And finally, they fled.

Weightlessly they fell; Vibratory and blest.

Hauled toward a glowing place Filled with peace and rest.

31

THE SPACE There is a space embodied within, Inside hearts, and their light so thin.

A space that touches and reaches above, A space where love is free and lingering.

Within the weave of nurtured seams, And within nurtured seeds. Sunder be all weathering, And the strain in seas.

Sunder be all distress Pulsing in unease.

Sunder be the thrashing at growth And all of its violent dreams.

Sunder be the clawing drones And all of their wretched weeds.

Glory to all relentless hauling; Let it just ascend.

Glory to forbidden tracks, Their wavering, and bends.

May dauntingness be hurled off cliffs And plummet to the depths.

May faults and vices fall away But drag us to amend.

May we fend off brittle attacks To always grow and mend.

32

A SILENCE Silence by the minute, Silence by the hour and Silence by the year.

Silence in a weightless tide and in a timeless space.

In a timeless race, In a lightless cave.

Silence in the stroke of our savior’s wade.

Circling under pale light Within a full crescent of waves.

33

A SHIP ENCAGED There is a ship stopped in rest Upon the rocky shore.

Its pulse has ceased And beats no more.

It’s caged now in a better land, Protected, unbattered, unscorned all in all.

It’s caged with ribbons coloured fair, It’s caged but does not fall.

With loss held tightly in its palms; Within the decks, their every grain.

Underneath in glittering charm, Boundless, without pain.

34

A BATTLE SERENE Beneath their curves and shadows cast, Leaves did tumble down.

They rustled as they passed To nestle upon the ground.

Beneath the soil, Beneath the trees, Beneath the rose beds, Whimpering softly, Lay two voices tussling.

One for passing and one for regret.

One for muscling and one for rest.

One for weightlessness and one for lead.

One for lasting and one for surrender.

One for mending and one for relent.

One for tarnish and one for splendor. One for broken and one for bent.

35

CURLING SEA The way the shoreline wraps the seas.

The way the sea furls ever round me.

The way it’s arms sway and lean, The way it’s legs cradle weight with ease.

The way it curls in its unending.

The way it grows, The way it’s free, The way it rests, The way it leaves, The way it breathes undauntedly.

36

FIFTY HORSES Along the folding valley Fifty horses galloped down.

Along the grasses and the weeds, They galloped long and proud.

New bodies did take heed With fresh wonder all around.

Fresh bodies took the lead Neither crashing nor stumbling down.

Their shining hooves stayed free Among the green and ground.

Among the grasses, among weeds, They galloped strong and loud.Â

37

INSIDE Body inside light, inside love.

Love inside light, inside fire.

Raging rivers only burst; Lonely rivers don’t tire.

Flow with might, Flow with pride, Pass with grace By the raging rivers side.

Cast inside the belly of light, Inside the belly of love.

Lonely river may you be cast Inside the belly of fire.

38

ALL STRAIN FALLING Engrained in remembering, Casting full trust into release.

Strained in space and tampering, Thoughts fall away as beasts.

A wash of flora wrapped around me: Branches, twigs, mud, and dust.

Rot was forgotten and I was set free.

Rot was forgotten, as was rust.

Placed between folding days With reverence, and with care.

Everything strained was stowed away With lust, and with flair.

39

YOUR LIGHT AND YOU Waltz on through your ruins now.

Each step of your two feet; Golden strides all true and proud Could tread through fire and repeat.

Every chink of light seems to fail, But falls down for you.

Hurled down and soaring all pale, Fall down upon all true.

May your limbs carry you long, May your sweet soles pound the soil.

May they carry you all strong In health, and in toil.

40

RESILIENCE - PART FOUR Lined with wire and iron gates, Legs will tire from this rat race.

Soon they’ll be run into the ground And hope for no other sound.

Eternal sunshine of the core Ever clawing at the walls.

Muddy footsteps on each step ‘til the last, Hoping to get out and shadow all paths.

41

BEATING THE DARK Maul every darkness growing my dear; Haul fair release, Halt there with lasting, Trawl for your own peace.

Call every darkness growing my dear; Steer for forbidden paths, Keep to your own pace, Forever let barriers pass.

Haul every darkness growing my dear; Keep bold and proud, As long as there’s reason Towering and loud.

42

A HEALING - PART THREE Let not your reach for sunlight be an unwon war— Let it not pound you into the earth all worn.

Be not sinking into the dirt; be all towering.

Let not your growth be stunted by any looming flaws.

Let not all tattered ships be left clinging to the shores­— Let not the blinding, shimmering waves beat against them moored.

Let not distance swallow whole within one all foul swoop.

Be not restless, be all bright, be ever, all untorn.

Be all care, be all light, be untouched to the core.

Be not damaged, be all height, be all unscathed whenceforth.

43

THE GALLOPING STILLNESS We stand in fields, shattered and old, Surrounded with binding stillness As the gates unfold.

It takes a grip of us As we hurl ourselves down these paths, As gold grows to rust.

Still unmoved by any force Evading our peripheral, We gallop without remorse.

We gallop to the beat of days that fade, To the beat of long hours and minutes, And seconds from which they’re made.

44

AN ESCAPE Dampen every crack from unending to here.

There is a breath in every stretch and in every rest.

Lighten every lead weight that seems to fall in fear.

There is a hollow moment in the more just as the less.

There is unending lightness in every step ahead; It’s shadowed out by worry and doubt, By every weary tread.

There is a way to survive, There is a way out.

It lingers far and wide, It wanders far about.

45

LEAK INTO LIGHT Storms fall on the branches and darken out my days.

They fall down fast and long they last— Slowly does their darkness pass, Flowing at glacial pace.

The night leaks into the mornings light.

It hooks its talons in, Stretches long and thin, Relentless in its fight.

The morning will crack through once more.

It will wrap throughout the trees, It will bounce off bark and leaves, With warmth, I’ll be adorned.

46

A FREEDOM - PART THREE Within serene promise is serene victory; Within draped branches, Within every bend, Within their trenches, Within their descent.

Outside gaoling bonds is freedom serene— Lashing at worry washed to the shores, Burying torment under the seas, Crashing at frailty ever moored, Hurtling upward through branches and leaves.

Within all life is a space all serene— Wandering astray for untarnished belief, Stowing away for promise and peace, Falling away for loosened weaves, Passing astray for release.

47

KNOW LOVE The brightest love is one unbound, Gazed upon without a sound, Hurled off cliffs away from being held, Though counting each breath breathed in then out.

Renounce all possessive clutches, Renounce all threatening grasps, Clutching as cages and as rats do, All end now at last.

We’ve been wired to tow our love When it should be towing us.

Lightening our heavy steps, Bearing as it must.

Past the tree lines, Past the brook; Tend to every freeborn rose, Tend to every grove.

Mend each with care, Mend each and know; Love is surrendering wealth and gold.

Love is grasping at roots in the earth, Then passing them beyond.

Love is sowing every flaw and watching them grow old.

48

THE GENTLE LIGHT I sunk into the fire of sinking delight, Ending the incessant hold of pain.

I leapt for immersion into gentle light.

While peace and hate kept up their fight, None of my breaths were left to gain.

I sunk into the fire of sinking delight.

Withing true, fearless height Two calloused palms did grip with strain.

I leapt for immersion into gentle light.

There confronting the blinding white, Outside the gaol of any chain, I sunk into the fire of sinking delight.

Finished with absorbing all targeted fright, Through the fresh air flailed the rein.

I leapt for immersion into gentle light.

Gathering every remnant bright, Covering the grate to ending’s drain, I sunk into the fire of sinking delight.

I leapt for immersion into gentle light.

49

THE CYCLE We sit gulping the fear and the years we swirled through our mouths. Guided through fountains of abuse, fountains of our kindred strain, and fountains of disuse. Long the burial grows, within the kindling of our cores. Within cyclic rot and cyclic unrest; the filth just hovers and glitters overhead.

50

DEFLECTION Shouldn’t need a crutch at first wake, Shouldn’t need to clutch to preserve, Shouldn’t be a harvest for the cycle’s sake, Shouldn’t need to duck and swerve.

Shouldn’t keep continually observing the fall; Shouldn’t question toppling overboard.

Shouldn’t keep just carrying to haul, Shouldn’t have slept when you could have soared.

Shouldn’t need to reap and sow within blind pain, Shouldn’t keep fleeing from joy, Shouldn’t keep impenetrable by the same, Shouldn’t be breathing only to be destroyed.

Shouldn’t need to abandon to self-protect, Shouldn’t keep resistant to care, Shouldn’t need to sacrifice to stay wrecked, Shouldn’t need to throttle your beauty to bear.

Shouldn’t let straining continually drape, Shouldn’t need to worship retreat, Shouldn’t let inertia be escape, Shouldn’t be so welcoming of defeat.

Shouldn’t need to mourn your piercing glow, Shouldn’t need to continually fight, Shouldn’t keep choking your wonders glow; Shouldn’t be afraid to be blindingly bright.

Shouldn’t retreat from adoration, Shouldn’t need to cave when push comes to shove.

Shouldn’t let fear be your station; Shouldn’t need to deflect love.

51

A LOVE SERENE Let all of my lost words fall upon you, In waves and in peace.

All unwavering and all fearless; As gaoled as the prairies breeze.

Let them fall and soak through Every crevasse, every ravine, Every nook and space in between.

Within trespasses, Within doubt, Within dawning failure, may you hear.

Let them gently nestle deep among your roots and bones, For you to dig up quietly wherever you may roam.

So they can encase your retreats with all their hope and warmth, Or for you to bury deeply and remember as once known.

You are the cracks of light in every forest wall, You are the refuge from every desert storm, You are the space between the earth and it’s breeze, You are the grit in every grain upon the ocean floor, You are the shimmer in every bough stirred up from sleep, You are all of Earth’s valleys and glory in their feats.

52

A PREVAILING HARMONY Only peace, Only harmony; Wash over me long, Wash over me.

I want to feel the peace; Feel the harmony.

I want to feel at least All of its proud strength And all that stays weak.

Glory be our keeper and hold us in your arms.

Let those limbs not leak, Let us not fall far, Let us never be left to pass, Let us never weep.

53

THE VIBRATION There lies a small vibration In each day’s harbored gifts.

All sylvan and revered; To be set adrift.

It murmurs, contorts, and turns in its sleep.

Some are captured outside its grasp, Others hear just distantly, While some just watch it pass.

Please rest softly and rest assured Its shore will never erode.

It stays in its place moored.

It stays in wait unowed.

54

A RENUNCIATION - PART TWO The wolves did savage through your gates— They took the bait, There’s a defence, Defeat is dense.

The bright can penetrate the fear, Heal the seer, Clear the jaws Of blood and more.

Relief sustains but only if Hurled over cliffs; All doubt alone, Joyfully thrown.

55

YOU AS SPIRIT Keep shining down on me bright spirit; Spend your light on me, Wage your light on me, Shed your light on me.

Pour it over me bright spirit, Pour it true and sweet.

All shining down on me Bright spirit; lend your light to me.

Lighten me from here fair spirit, Fight doubtlessly in wealth.

Fight for body and fight for self, For full-bodied light and health.

Etch no names in shackles and chains, Keep soaring sound and free.

Keep soaring sound and please Believe in the will to believe.

Forever blessed and free May all of your sweet steps be, May all of your sweet breaths be.

Be gone all dreary wandering, Believe in the will to believe.

Wholly rapturous now, May all of your days be.

56

TIME AND IT’S PRISON BARS Case me in survival­— Curl it in my palms, Plant it ever deeply Outside the reach of the past.

Buried deeply, Hand and hand within, Buried freely, Encased so thin.

Outside time’s prison bars, Lay gently resting there so far.

Outside time’s prison bars, Without full measure to attend.

Outside time’s prison bars, Without fear of the past.

Outside time’s prison bars, Without promise of full end.

57

COLOUR THAT DECAYS As the light gaoled within yearned with a need to stray, I felt a space in your heart that ached from ageing drought.

As empty as a warming breeze disturbed from its sway, I felt a pain in your heart that wanted to get out.

I felt a crack in your heart just deep enough for doubt.

A single rose wilting although its reflection grows, Similar to the grains in a dune wasting away.

A blanketing soft glow that was left to decompose.

Similar to nature’s colour straining in decay, Similar to the beatings that make her wires fray.

Surrounded by a care that’s slowly burrowing in, While anchors wrench your ankles to undeserving lows.

Surrounded by the breath of fear slowly wearing thin, While guilt and grief flutter just to amplify your woes, While a pain cracks your heart without knowing that it glows.

58

THE SPIRIT Flowers stir through fountains, though all the rain has gone. A trail whose lines disintegrate. Hunger that taunts undauntedly; feed the spirit. A black crow chasing for colour in its wings; blacken the spirit. Without a trace of growths hindered pace. A trail whose lines disintegrate within a bliss filled space.

59

A HEALING - PART TWO It whispered along the shore to me— It whispered long, It whispered free.

It was the life in aching pillars and wilting peonies.

It was the height then thrashed so thin, It hauled long to bare all and leave.

It tore through the space between imprisoned and free, It wore through the space between paces and dreams.

Come back to me here, Come back to me, Come back to me here, Come back all free.

Come back to me here, Come back gently, Come back to me here, Come back to me.

60

THE GLOW Black glow on the petals now, Black glow on the fields, Black glow on the reins now, Black glow at my heels.

Black glow heals the severed and drained, Black glow wields the strain.

Black glow on the petals now, Black glow on the fields, Black glow shields the rain now, Black glow over will.

61

YOUR RESONANCE I curse the day your enrapturing resonance did deteriorate.

A breath that halts although it had hoped to leave unscathed.

Years of loss may target you in hopes to penetrate.

May you scatter your shattered pain in an incorruptible way— So it may deteriorate, So it may settle nonviolently, So it may disintegrate, So it may settle softly and free.

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LOVE AND RECEDE I’ll love you through the fears So with you, their abandonment stays.

I’ll love you to the grave through years.

Until the fracturing disappears, As love within grace’s effortless ways, I’ll love you through the fears.

Even as the torment is muddy ‘til it clears, Even ‘til the torment finally strays, I’ll love you to the grave through years.

A love unseen by a sea of seers, As love inside hate retired in a daze, I’ll love you through the fears.

As the dark gathers and leers, As the dark can set ablaze, I’ll love you to the grave through years.

I’ll plant you in a space that reveres And radiates two communiqués; I’ll love you through the fears.

I’ll love you to the grave through years.

63

WHOLLY Holy complete abandonment, Holy broken frames, Holy relentless debt and worry, Holy freedom waves.

Holy strength, Holy loss, Holy unwavering flame, Holy pure decay.

Holy pain in the strain of threads.

Holy weave pave the way— The way for all sinners, The way for all slaves, The way for all beggars, For those who refuse pain.

For those who ride to glory on the broken back of the rain.

On it’s cracked spine all tattered, All worn and proud in its decay.

64

THROUGH THE PALE DARK Follow though no evil here; Come wander through the pale dark.

Come wander here and there so far.

Upon the shredded remnants now, Upon the fallen bark, Through the pale dark.

Upon the promise of this earth and everything it lacks.

Upon the weary tracks, Upon the ending form, Upon the hollow cracks, Upon the pulsing storms, Upon the leering past, Upon the weary paths.

Come wander here and there so far, Through the pale dark.

65