Reindeer Run (17 November 2019)

                             Hearing anew the call of Mystery--

I take up the antler rack and hooves

that I’d some-time-ago put aside_

when visioning was over-run in doubt

and fled;

leaving me abandoned

    without Inspiration, 

            yet stilled_ within sight the Stag Door!            1

I get up, I run, I leap, 

            am I leather-hided?--

and go galloping with the herd!

Transfixed in Mystery’s sway,

re-filled with earthen energy, I speed;

two-legged and glistening,

bounding along the instinctual path,

sweaty with supernal intent.                                        2

I get up, I run, I leap, leather-hided;

and I am galloping 

with the Stags of the Moon's Truth,

        Sharing in being Shared with them!!

Now Cloaked in Poetic Power,

I go as a biped among arctic Reindeer,

Three-Tined across a snowy mountain,

down into the ice-laced vale,

following paths drummed into the ground

by the hooves of generations 

                now beyond counting.                                 3

I get up, I run, I leap, leather-hided;

and go galloping with the herd!

Swerving with the moving flesh

of four-hooved antler crowned beings_

descending into a cavernous glade_

I hear my own Archaic Song

           sung by the wind in ancient trees,

                 the hooves upon the ground,

      and the silent Light of the Moon

casting shadows wherever we run!                               4

I follow, I run, I leap, leather-hided;

and go galloping with the herd!

Transfixed in the Night,

Life’s fecund powers surge within me

as the throng turns yet again—

and I am left – with a feeling of naughting,

stranded near a tall, ageless Oak,

awaiting what only Mystery can tell me!                      5

Panting, kneeling, swooning, Moon-Loony;

I am staid in the velvety darkness.

There in the deep, liminal glade,

the arche of Poetic Mysticism shines-forth;

strong as the musk of the Stag

and yet smooth as the Moonlight!                                6

Ever-riveting human consciousness,

Musing is a gifting given_

    in communion-like draughts

as the Darkness of the Deep Starred Void

embraces us_ 

                transfiguring our Way.                                   7

I am up_ I run, I leap, leather-hided;

galloping in Ek-stasis with the herd!

So mote it be!

Snow in the Eaves (12 November 2019)

Waking to the sound of a blowing squall,

I roused myself with winter glee_

first snowfall having come full-flown,

I rose to the window expecting to see_                             1

Faery-flakes dancing in the snowfall,

blown from the sidhe by wintry dreams!

“A frolick of white in the gray-bluish air

wisps snow up into our eaves!”

Dawn coming, snow falling fast_

I dressed and then descended

to light a fire in the hearth

with a brand that I had saved

                  since April’s last frost!                                      2

Faery-flakes dancing in the snowfall

caught my eye as if weirding dreams!

Sitting in the warmth of firelit dreams,

I saw – through a frosted window –

the snow in the eaves

of a neighboring house;

dancing merrily, enchanting me_

calling me out into wind and chill!                                      3

Faery-Flakes dancing in the snowfall

dazzled my eye with wintry dreams!

Swaying in solemn breezes they dance_

young Maples swish and veer,

waving their arms;

praising Notting with ever-upturned limbs,

supple and still radiant in winter’s fray!                              4

                 Bridge: Hearth-fire illumines humane dwelling

   with ambient light and reddening heat—

consciousness expanding into the cosmos,

   seeking communions in Vast Sanctuaries!

Calling to the raccoon

that lives in the hedgerow,

I hear its revel and declamation

that snow drifts high before its den!

Hidden from the world;

      Deep in hibernation’s contemplation_

In snowfall’s swirls it conjures intimations

of a dream of more rustic revelations!                               5

Faery-Flakes dancing in the snowfall

Open my eyes to weirding dreams!

Three cardinals flew

onto bare-boned boughs of the Forsythia

nearby; at our neighbor’s porch!

Now in their prudent twig-stepping,

I discern the Wayes I might now go,

_all a-birding for truth.                                                    6

Faery-Flakes dancing in the snowfall,

Cleanse my eyes with wintered dreams!

Snowflakes amaze and dazzle me with light

as the Sun comes out over a far-off ridge!

Here I am_

alone in earthen communions,

ready for visions that render me

un-at-home; a Stranger in the Wood.                             7

“Let’s boot up and go out walking_

      Our eaves are filling with snow!”

_And as the snowfall tapers

into meditative lulls, I hear_

upon the eaves of my mind’s ek-stasis

the bells of a Winter Solstice reveling—

calling me home to the fires of Heart & Hearth!                    8

Hurrahya!

Lost and Found (25 July 2019)

- Montague Whitsel 

                                   I. The Calling (16.10.06)

I hear You calling_

but I cannot respond;

for I have lost my red-gold phone

and have thus dis-placed the Path

            I used to take to the pool

where Your Word makes ripples

in our mysterious mortality.                                         1

I hear You calling_

            but I am not ready for the Journey

—much less the Dream—

            to begin again.                                                2

I am lost from You now.

Love has distracted me from Love,

and I cannot bear

            to tear and rend

                        the flesh of our hearts—

Crucifixio Redux Agapeo;

            —in any New Crucible

of Transfiguration.                                                       3

Yet_

You left me alone long before

I ever woke up

            to find myself abandoned_

and now I have no more need

of You.                                                                         4

So be it!

                                   II. Fobbing Off (22.11.06) 

                                       The fob rebounds_

I lose myself in the Lost and Found

of my soul’s empty cache.

Swinging_

Hope drowns

as the line of the fob swings

back and forth

through the plane

of my crossed existence.

Never quite crossing

the point where

I AM_

the vertical plumb

almost passes through

Me_

—but not quite—

and not until I am gone full_tilt

_once again—

into some other flitting distraction!                              5

The point is to be

at the place of intersection

between the horizontal plane

and the vertical plumb-line

of Mystery and transfiguration!                                   6

Yet, I have not been there

for so long

that I cannot remember

the song I used to sing

in the days when I first found Vision

finding me_

swinging to and fro—

from the ever-still Worlding Tree!                               7

finis.

 
                                    III. Almost Abandoned (23.06.07)

I have wandered so far away—

That I don’t know where You are

anymore.

I have crossed the verdant divide

and found my self;

lost of the scent of You.

I have wandered long and far

on the Path You set my feet upon,

and gone deep into wondrous stories

of the Earth_                                                               8

But sometimes_

I wonder where You are—

and will I ever find You again?

Are You waiting for me evermore

at some far-off oasis-like vista;

beyond the Wilderness Rim?                                     9

I have wandered so far now

that I don’t know where You are

anymore_

If You call me, will I hear it?

If You send for me_

will the messenger lose his way?

Here I Am, in this Wilderness—                                 10

Awaiting Your Reply.

                        Sincerely Yours;

                        A Wilderness Wanderer

 IV. First Love (30.06.07)

It was for Love that I left You—

_for love.

I left You in the Morning of Eternity_

when the light was new to me

and my soul was freshly won.                                11

I wandered off into this Wilderness

with love.

I abandoned You at noon

to walk_ enchanted as a loon

with the one who had chosen me

at the same time that I chose him.                             12

I have let go of Love

for the love that was given me.

He has come and let me slip free

from the shackles of those beliefs

for which I had grown too wise.

Even still_ I remember You_

for You were my First Love.                                   13

Yet it was for Love that I left You;

_for love.

I heeded the Gift like a summons

to mystical self-completion—

it was Your Gift of Love to me;

was it not?!

It was only after leaving You

that I wondered

—but not for years—

if You are still there, any more;

my First Love.                                                             14

                                         Sincerely,

                                         A Devout Wanderer

                                         In the Wilderness

                                       V. Found Again (12.07.07)

In the Emptiness I found You—

where Nothing Else was.

Beyond the Glistening ideals;

having thrown off the dross

of religions and superstitions.

Naked but not yet barren

I came to You in the Night of Splendor,

seeking only a Touch_

                                    from Nothing.                          15

I find myself followed in You

Hallowed by You_

allowed to venture beyond constraints_

yet captured by You.

I find myself in being Found by You.                          16

Found again_

wandering where I knew not;

Beyond the limits of thought and belief

I found myself found by You_

as if coming around a corner

and falling into an abyss

of self-emptying Love.

O_... _There U R.                                                       17

                                                     Sincerely Startled,

                                                     A Wanderer in the

                                                     Wilderness