THE SPIRIT OF THE SAINTS

There is a Water that flows down from Heaven

To cleanse the world of sin by grace Divine.

At last, its whole stock spent,

its virtue gone.Dark with pollution not its own,

it speeds Back to the Fountain of all purities;

Whence, freshly bathed, earthward it sweeps again,

Trailing a robe of glory bright and pure.
This Water is the Spirit of the Saints,

Which ever sheds, until itself is beggared,

God's balm on the sick soul;

and then returns To Him

who made the purest light of Heaven.

ever drunk with love

The Lover is ever drunk with love;

He is free, he is mad,

He dances with ecstasy and delight.
Caught by our own thoughts,

we worry about every little thing,

But once we get drunk on that love,

Whatever will be, will be.

DESCENT

I made a far journey

Earth's fair cities to view,

but like to love's city

City none I knew
At the first I knew not

That city's worth,

And turned in my folly

A wanderer on earth.
From so sweet a country

I must needs pass,

And like to cattle

Grazed on every grass.
As Moses' people

I would liefer eat

Garlic, than manna

And celestial meat.
What voice in this world

to my ear has come

Save the voice of love

Was a tapped drum.
Yet for that drum-tap

From the world of All

Into this perishing Land I did fall.
That world a lone spirit

Inhabiting.

Like a snake I crept Without foot or wing.
The wine that was laughter

And grace to sip

Like a rose I tasted

Without throat or lip.
'Spirit, go a journey,

'Love's voice said:

'Lo, a home of travail

I have made.'
Much, much I cried:'

I will not go';Yea, and rent my raiment

And made great woe.
Even as now I shrink

To be gone from here,

Even so thence

To part I did fear.
'Spirit, go thy way,

'Love called again,'

And I shall be ever nigh thee

As they neck's vein.'
Much did love enchant me

And made much guile;

Love's guile and enchantment

Capture me the while.
In ignorance and folly

When my wings I spread,

From palace unto prison

I was swiftly sped.
Now I would tell

How thither thou mayst come;

But ah, my pen is broke

And I am dumb.

A Star Without a Name

When a baby is taken from the wet nurse,
it easily forgets her
and starts eating solid food.

Seeds feed awhile on ground,
then lift up into the sun.

So you should taste the filtered light
and work your way toward wisdom
with no personal covering.

That's how you came here, like a star
without a name. Move across the night sky
with those anonymous lights.

this is love!

This is love: to fly toward a secret sky,
to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.
First, to let go of live.
In the end, to take a step without feet;
to regard this world as invisible,
and to disregard what appears to be the self.

Heart, I said, what a gift it has been
to enter this circle of lovers,
to see beyond seeing itself,
to reach and feel within the soul

When the rose is gone

When the rose is gone and the garden faded

you will no longer hear the nightingale's song.

The Beloved is all; the lover just a veil.

The Beloved is living; the lover a dead thing.

If love withholds its strengthening care

,the lover is left like a bird without care,

the lover is left like a bird without wings.

How will I be awake and aware

if the light of the Beloved is absent?

Love wills that this Word be brought forth.

enough words

Enough Words
How does a part of the world leave the world?

How can wetness leave water?
Don't try to put out a fire

by throwing on more fire!

Don't wash a wound with blood!
No matter how fast you run,

your shadow more than keeps up.

Sometimes, it's in front!
Only full, overhead sun dimishes your shadow.
But that shadow has been serving you!

What hurts you, blesses you.

Darkness is your candle.

Your boundaries are your quest.
I can explain this, but it would break

the glass cover on your heart,and there's no fixing that.
You must have shadow and light source both.

Listen, and lay your head under the tree of awe.
When from that tree,

feathers and wings sprout on you,

be quieter than a dove.

Don't open your mouth for even a cooooooo.
When a frog slips into the water, the snake cannot get it.

Then the frog climbs back out and croaks,

and the snake moves toward him again.
Even if the frog learned to hiss,

still the snake would hear through the hiss

the information he needed,

the frog voice underneath.
But if the frog could be completely silent,

then the snake would go back to sleeping,

and the frog could reach the barley.

The soul lives there in the silent breath.
And that grain of barley is such that,

when you put it in the ground,it grows.
Are these enough words,

or shall I squeeze more juice from this?

Who am I, my friend?