Sunday, March 20, 2011




"Henry, Continued"

from 7 October, 2010


I went into the Woods --- 
And I found it was Divine.
Honestly. I didn't know I would find that.
Oh sure, I found Darkness and Dragons,
Cobwebbed rooms, and Sticky Substances you wouldn't want to touch without gloves.
There are Witches, 
There are Skeletons in the closet,
And there's lots & lots of Emptiness.
There's my father, 
There's Our Father, 
There's a lot of men I thought I had shut away, long long ago. 
But then I walk in a different set of Woods; 
Or maybe the same, I'm not sure.
And there are more cobwebs, 
But they're so beautiful, they're perfect,
Dozens of them all around, 
Holding the morning dew and all the secrets that Mother Nature can't say.
And the stickiness isn't so bad --- it's kind of funny, actually. 
At least I know it will make her laugh.
And the men...well. 
They're in the dark places, but they're in the light places too.
They do mean well, most of them.
It's not really their fault they left such a sticky mess behind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


I met Jesus in the darkness.
I was afraid to tell you that.
I didn't expect to meet him there, honest honest.  
Who knew, the archetypes of my childhood,
Coming back in full force this week.
I met Jesus, and He took me dancing,
And He whispered in my ear and 
Swooped me around so my long brown hair 
Could flow freely in the wind.
And ever since, I see crosses everywhere I go,
And I think about how so much pure joy
Can be retold as a bloody dark tale.
Eye of the beholder, and all that. 
And now, it's so Bright, I can't even see
The words on the page.
Molly CoCo is coming up the hill,
And Tony CoCo is staunchly defending our land.
And I just want to Laugh, and Laugh, and Breathe.
Because I learned a Secret this week,
As I stumbled through the Woods. 
I learned that we can place, organize, and codify 
Every tiny twig of the body, 
But they haven't placed the Soul.
And the Secret is: it's Here.
It sounds like this: ____________________________.
And it looks like Us.
And it feels like --- the Space between your bones. 
The Moments you're not breathing in or out. 
It's the Nervous part of your nerves,
It's your muscles' Muscles,
It's the Breath between your skin cells 
And the Life that Lights your Eyes.
Like J.C. said:
It is Here, 
It is Here, 
It is Here.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


I didn't know. Honestly.
I was willing to find Nothing at all.
I was willing to go in and Be Taken. 
I was willing to go in and not come back. 
But now I find myself 
Here, eating yogurt and writing a poem in the morning.
Carving the words into the stuffed page like my Life depends on it.
And I find that Divine.
I breathe into my secret spaces,
And know that they are Divine. 
I write a few words, to remember myself, 
Knowing full well I may have to return to the Woods someday. 
I watch my other companions, 
As we start to emerge from the Woods together, 
And I hope they've found their Divine, too. 
We went into the Woods because we wish to live deliberately --- 
To suck out the marrow --- to find out what is ---- to know it by experience.
We'll continue to live together, 
Here, on the other side of the Woods. 
We'll live and wish, 
Hope & clean, 
Wash & dream 
Together.
We live here in Faith, 
As an experiment, 
Unsure of the outcome 
But sure of the way. 
We stay, in order to give a true account 
To those who will come after us --- 
To show by example, 
To offer an alternative
To that which you thought you knew.
And my dear, brave Brothers & Sisters,
You Holies of the Otherhood:
If You're not out of the Woods yet --- 
Or if You didn't find it to be Divine ----
C'è senza un problema, tesori miei.
Aspettiamo qui, per tua ritorno.
E troveremo qualcosa nuova, qua, insieme.
Amen,
Hallelujah.








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