James Laird gave me life.
( God rest his strong spirit )
Or came life to me through Mother's line.
( And her sweet soul with his )
So was it Hill or Mather
Du Vautier or other by the way
Some dark haired Romani?
( Her black eyes still intent today )

Or was it Wylie or Thomson
Or McKinlay -- long years
Of stubborn Orkney breed
Or some invasive sturdy Viking seed?

Or Kathleen's side
( and rest her soul with theirs )
Lucies or sweet Ann Sherrington
Or Thompson, staid old Cornishman
Of whom we are the heirs.

Geordie Brayshaw, or an Ira Coote
Or brisk Donnellan? Just who knows
Whose bright eyes and whose far days
Are echoed in our children's ways.

Who knows what family wiles
Learned from those long gone hearts
Once living and loving and free
Who knows whose spirit smiles
So knowing in my children's eyes
And laughs all innocent at me.
 

Which atom guided Victor Chang's sure hand
Dictates the happy choice
Of La Stupenda's lovely lilting voice?
Controls the pilots most deft mastery
Of machine -- space and velocity
Or timed the judgments all
Of Donald Bradman's bat
Alan Border's agile eye and hand
Or Chappell's last slow ball.

What atom indeed
Within us so determines
Our fateful moment
Which when taken, is success
Perfection of times circumstance
Or the precious moment missed
Is but disaster!

What atom indeed --
Without a natural love
Primal but potent within electric rings
What but a living loving heart
In these ethereal -- these eternal things
These building blocks
This universal heart of all created beings.

Which atom says, with understanding
I choose the better way?
 
 

Whereto, and when,
And please god, with whom?
My old heart questions.

What Elysium awaits me
Sweet with deep fields of asphodel?

Or happy hunting ground
Where laden with spoil
We return, singing, to the Lodge
And smiling serving girls.

I am too meek for Asgard
Or Valhalla
------------Those Neanderthals!

Olympus will be too high for me
And fraught with danger
From those quick tempered and so jealous gods.

Heaven and Hell have
Bitterly contended in me
All my days.

The Islands of the Blest ? They draw me.
Siren song; the deep sleep of Circe.
Such dreams have lulled me
Throughout all my ways.

Gentlest, sweetest and noblest of all
The aspiration of my restless soul
The dream, the hope of Avalon's calm isle.

The strong fellowship of goodly men
The loves of splendid women.
Companions all
Savouring the good life.
There, in the ivory tower
Of this eternal mind
Pursue the ageless quest
On lovely and so tranquil shore
Of fabled Avalon.

Oh, Avalon, calm Avalon,
My friends, my souls companions.

Perchance we may not fall
Here with Merlin,
Or even at Morgen's hands
Attain the Grail.
 

Dear child, see the sparkle of dew
Pendant on this still fern
Clear and diamond lighted
The crystal colours burn.

See, clear, the pure colours
Gleaming bright in the curve
Of the pristine droplet
The secret central nerve.

Pure, superbly beautiful
The sparkling morning dew.

With deepest faith she sensed
The mystery and the freedom of the sea.

Heard without listening
The surge and whisper of the surf.

Pensive she stirred the sands,
Silent, felt the wisdom of unquestioned ages.

Smoothed the folds of the Blue Dress
Stirred by the free wind.

Her mind awakening to the ancient songs of freedom,
The placid strength and sweet caress
Of wind, the gentle singing of the quiet sea.

Voiceless her heart sang
All this I am
All this is part of me.
 
 

Chronos, oldest of the Gods
Not yet grown hoary
With the vast weight of ages on his brow
With wise understanding
Abdicates his sovereignty
A short but sweet awhile
Grants Kairos
This most rare and precious moment
Now.

Today these words have meaning
We have indeed looked deep
Into infinity
Seen suns explode in Nova
Stellar fusion transforming
Base matter into ethereal energy
Seen stardust shaped
Vast ages of plasmic energies
Powers unimagined
Wonders beyond words
The ultimate passion of creative love
The very conception of matter
Gestating in the womb of time.

Worlds formed from stardust
Infinite maternity
Agonising in the elemental birth of worlds
Galaxies prolific as sperm
Seed immensities.
All is beyond understanding.

We have searched
The fast receding boundaries
Of visible space and find no end.
Infinities stretch beyond
Apt adventure
For mans eternal mind.

Spirit exulting in creative love
Returns home. Our planet home
Transformed by the emerging gift of life
And from that life, the transforming gift of love.

All things, we know
Are the work of His hands
In His time and in ours
We, His children, too will understand.
 

And what of human kind?
Clearly we are not ( or are we? )
As butterflies
Through life after variant life
Transposed
Egg, caterpillar then chrysalis
And the beautiful changeling thing
The butterfly -- sated with nectar
Seeking a mate
For the next unknown mysterious phase
Ulysses splendid in blue
The Wanderer glorious in bronze
And all their lovely kind.
 
 

Why cannot we
Order our lives
To conform more closely
To the hearts desires?

Circumstance --!
No idle word is circumstance
Or destiny
So limn our fates
Too often chance events
Open -- or close -- our gates.

Its well for humankind
That some faith we find
Outweighs the accidents, and griefs
Calms the deep fears
That threaten to defeat
The human mind.

Faith eases unsought circumstance
Into the life
Assuages the stressed mind of bitterness
And soothes the griefs
Born of unsought pain
Faith leads the bruised spirit
Into peace again.
 

Even birdsong is muted
And the emerging light
Stirring pale veils
Of the silent night.

About me
Magic is unfolded
In the still air
Coolness a benediction.

The quiet is an open door
Into a world of peace
A reality deeply desired
And felt so clearly
This magic hour at dawn.

Too soon, the sun
Clamours -- as he does
For space

Drowns the limpid valley
In refulgent light
And the burden
Of too exuberant heat.
 

Our compassion is real
We would not be alone
Our need for love and care
Is shared so deeply
We revel in the warmth
Of responsive love
And accept the burden
So light and so desired
Of each other's need for love.

Our needs are mutual
And so we nurtured seed
Each in our loins
That such need
Should be fulfilled.

Our work consummated
In the passionate unity
Thereafter the brief union
That fleet glimpse
That rich communion
Resolves itself again
To you and me
To you dear heart and me.

Withdrawn -- to be again
Separate
Each offering love
And deepest confidence
To bring the work
To its long fulfillment.

But --
Always the separate self
But --
You and me again.

Thus, the trust oftimes
Reconsecrated
Unity in the electric fire
The passion of creation
How longed for in the long hours
Of separation.

Too soon -- too soon
Too quickly
Youth fades through the years
Till only memories --
Memories --
And our separate
Separate children
Remind us, that we too
Looked through the veils
And knew briefly those so intense
So deep desired
And holy moments of reality
Creation.

No weary waste of useless word
Nor pious hope, or strong belief
Nor cult, nor creed, nor holy man
Can give us life beyond our span.

Not from above but from within
Does strength and grace and beauty flow
The gods we serve within our span
Spring from the lonely mind of man.
 

The strength of government
Is the Law
But when Law invites corruption
Government itself becomes a victim.

When the Law is weak
Interpretation defeats justice
To suit the purse
Even our judges are confounded
And appeal but proves the flaws
The costly folly of our laws.

We need a government
Whose strength is justice
Rather than the law.
 

The Carpenter
Taught clearly
That Heaven and Hell
Our peace or deep unrest
Are states of mind
Within each self expressed.

We should, surely then
Learn from Him
To access the Father
And have our heaven here
Our peace and strength
Within.
 

And this is why
He said -- " Forgive
Not seven times, I say,
But seventy "
Forgiveness is the only way.

Forgiving all
We gain release
From the spirits sickness
And thus have peace.

Forgive then, freely
And as freely
Gain his peace.
Only such release
Can gain heart's peace.
 

Tomorrow, soon to be
Another yesterday
Rehashed, reheated
Made a common take-away
To satisfy the hungers of today.

Bitter the flow that mocks the dream
The quest of every wakened mind
How purge the aimless cruel stream
That ever mocks the precious dream
Of excellence; of sweetest grace
The innocence, the simple trust
Learned at the generous breast
Learned from the loving face.

Strong inner voice; unspoken grace
Thou son of man make clear the stream
Make clear we pray, the inward flow
Of our deep minds immortal dream.
 

But still, the memories flare
They never dim.
Oftime in spite of all my prayer
The memory obscures
My vision of, my faith in Him.
 

The universe
So the astronomers say
Expands, exponentially and
Infinitely
Each moment of each day
To the velocity of light,
And disappears at C
Presumably into cosmic energy.

Our galaxy, in other eyes
Viewed in the telescopes
Of unknown, opposite skies
Will be approaching
The velocity of light and reaching such will be
Instantly converted into
M multiplied by C² into E.

At such velocities
I guess it wont be long
Before such fancies
Prove happily to be wrong.
 

Her quiet voiced plea in vocal silk
A song of humble grateful praise
Of such, as, obedient to her certain need
Pours as demanded, the nectar of her milk.

Yet I who love her know full well
Despite that humble grateful purr
The savage nature of the hunting cat
That burns so fiercely, in that silken fur.
 

Hidden the dark glow stirred.

And the red fire ran
Creations centre stirred.

Ascendant the rich glow spread
Warm colour and power grows
And the deep hunger.

Heart made the stronger
As the strong fire glows
Life's blood and feeling
Beating and stirring.

Silence the breathing
Voiceless praise
Sings with the fire leaping
The creative word, and spirit
Flooding the golden ways.

Grace flows
A benediction
In the deep self glows
Time past
And timeless future seen
Enfolded in eternal being.

The wave exquisite
All creation seen
In pure simplicity
Hearts certainty
The ineffable light
Calm understanding
Of our mortality.
 

Hearts love, tales of courage
Triumphs conquests endurance's
Wit, words and the books
Plays, and the play of our Gods
Art with its myriad artists
And the long staves of music,
All the deep chords and harmonies
Of the life of man, his artifacts
And all the works of all his hands
Talked to exhaustion
To be reborn, some brief tomorrow
All renewed, remade and then,
Recurrent and redundant
Be talked to death again.

All these are but a glimpse
Tiniest fraction of the tiniest part
Immeasurably small
Of the first brief moment
Of that Eternity
Which is our all.

What then?
The infinite long ages
Stretch before us
We should then
Make a surety of Heaven
In this our own small world
In all our ways
Lest that eternity be found
A bitter useless Hell.
 

One day the human race
Will confront the paradox
And the problems --
Posed by eugenics; and will face
The Wisdom of Knowledge
And the challenge
Of insanity and bitter human waste.

Watson and Crick
Have with clear insights
Shown the delicate cautious way to gain
Great healing for our race
Delete or mend the errant genes
And thus to heal ancestral pain.

Somewhere -- deep enfolded
Coils the Master Chain of genes
Fathering all inheritance
Access to this, the Master Plan
Will father a richer future
Free -- surely of disease
For long suffering man.

But they -- watchers of my nights
They told me ( unbelieving then )
The Universe
With our small world
Within it
Expands infinitely and exponentially
( Such Words )
Unsurmountable distances
Daily increase the gulfs.

And so the dream recedes
And all my childhood hopes
Fade. The stars
Tho' clear in sight
Now unattainable.

God help the animals, prayed Mother
For the water came down the gully
Like a wall
With a tiny but savage tongue
Searching each lower inch
Leading the destroying way.

The horses heard it coming
And, though trembling
In their delicate nervous way
Ran for the hill.

Steers, too, turned and panicked
Wise in their bovine innocence
And trotted to safety
Though some few stood staring
Hypnotised by the noise and died
Rolled like bales of straw
In that relentless stream.

And the poor sheep,
Wild weighted surging water
Deep in their heavy fleeces
And all heavy with lamb died too.

Up in the house thank God
Built safe on a shoulder
Of ancient sun warm rock
Watched all.

Horror and shock co-mingled
Our minds too numbed for tears
By that first shock and onslaught.

Never to forget the terrible tossing
Of trees washed out
Shrub, hillside, boulders and the dying flesh
Tumbling and twisting ravaging on.

Never to forget the deep
Sullen roar of those scouring waters
Reshaping the valley floor
Destroying our pleasant stream
The swimming hole
The cattle ford and the sheltering trees.

The waters roared on
Through Smith's place
All his chooks and sheds
His fowls their wings clipped
Could not fly
We heard them with terrible pity
Above the roaring water.

The banker fanned out past Smith's
As the valley widened
It took our road and the fences and sheds
The bitumen rolled in great strips
Useless now, though the men
Saved the strips, and over the years
Melted it down for paths
And crossings on the farms
But the road gone, stripped
To some ancient base
But no gold there.

Lower down the houses in the town
Escaped the worst.
The water levelling out
That dreadful speed now done
Just rose sullenly round
The foundations, flowed
Quietly enough through some doors
Spitefully it seemed, to ruin
Some carpets, and,
Damage done, drained away
The mud and filth of forty miles remained.

Up at our place, we started
Right away to clear the mess
The tractor thank God
Left overnight by the packing shed untouched
Dragged the carcasses
"Dog tucker for weeks." said Dad.

Poor Smith below us on the flat
Had most of the wreck
Of that once lovely spot
The wider fields about his place
Stopped most; the frightful mess
Feet deep and stinking
Our boys helped for weeks and more
To gather up -- to bury and burn
To scour shovel and clear
And curse the crows
And dingoes
Come to the feast from far.

The men skinned those
With worthwhile pelts
Laid them out to dry -- salted
To make a few bob
"All we'll get out of this lot." said Dad.

Later we remade the ford
And replanted the trees
Dug out another swimming hole
"Won't be another such as this
For a hundred years." said Dad.

Well its been the same all along
I thought
Fire or flood; rain or drought
The weatherman's got but little sense
We need a weather woman.
 

What wonder we deny ourselves
Such glory and such splendour
Our lives and spirit
Are the meaner
For such irreparable loss.
 

Therefore weep --
And let the sharp blade
Pierce thee to the bone
Weep -- only those wounds
Washed with salt tears are healed.

Eyes washed with tears
See clear the world again.

Grief restrained
Corrodes the heart
Turns all to bitterness
The unhealed wounds
Bleed inwardly
And will destroy thee
Unassuaged.

So, face your grief with courage
Weep your tears
Until the heart finds peace.
Only then
Is understanding reached
Of life's calamities
Hearts ease achieved
Peace mingle with thy tears.
 

Men of the arid deserts of the world
And the wide plains of the fruitful lands
And the icy regions of the Arctic seas
All continents and islands
Men of all colour and race
Though scattered wide
Over the broad lands
And the islands of the seven seas
All -- all with neither exception
Nor degree,
Since that far beginning
Have the salt sea substance
Rich in their veins.

The blue sea was our Mother
Vast epochs before Eve
Tended flowers in Eden
And Eve's special sea children
Peopled the sea girt lands.

Our cities span the edges
Of seas immensity
And the seas harvests
Nourish the world
And the dreams that men
Build round seas edges.

Sea shall nurture the land
Till the word decrees again
And the fountains of the deep
Are loosed, and opened
And the grey seas rise again
Flood the long valleys
Flood the golden coasts
And great tides ebb and flow
Over the fertile level plain.

New islands isolate will dream
Tree crowned over deeper seas
New lands with new shores
And a new sea people will
Build a new life beside the water.

They still will have
The salt sea in their blood
The sting of salt spray
Wind driven, on their faces
Their cities built again
New, round the seas new edge
Their hearts and minds will be
Stirred, still, with the song and surge
Of thy ancient immutable sea.
 

"Let trees be made for earth is bare"
The Lord's voice cried in thunder
And the roots ran deep and the trees were there
And earth was filled with wonder.

The white birch gleamed; the oak held straight
And down the mountain marched the pine
The orchard bowed 'neath blossomed weight
And cypress stood in solemn line.

The palm stood proud as Aaron's rod
The willow billowed slowly
So came the trees at the call of God
And all the trees are holy.
 

Moonlight, on house lit valley
Moonlight on silver hill
Silver moon over silver water
Silver quiet, silver still
On the great sea of Tara
Shining silver and quiet
Round the great bowl of hills
Silent and silver overhead
The great bowl of night.

Go quietly -- drink deep the quiet air
From the quiet -- the dark bowl of night
Soft lit this magic hour, with silver light
The silver moon
Shining so quietly over
The sleeping city
The great sea of Tara.
 

Then thought of Mother
With her gentle busy hands
And recalled her oftime saying
"Look about you lad
Everything around you
All the good things of life
Are made by someone's hands."

So cheered
Put on my useful cap
And poked 'round the garage
Made a useful bookshelf
Out of secondhand timber
Cut it carefully
In an old colonial style
With a drawer below top shelf
And simple ornament
A pleasant useful thing.

Daughter in law loved it
Treasures it still
And, till she reads it here
Knows not she owes it
To long departed Granny
Her lovely useful hands.
 

Hands so skilled
At rest
Gentle heart and hands
At rest.

For you dear heart
The veil lifted
Our common dream fulfilled.

The light about your lovely spirit
Undimmed now
By this world's ills
Your fondest hopes surrendered.

Rest dear heart
His arms, His love
His peace about you.
 

What strange passion
Led him to his bride --
Or was it she to him?

Adam -- new made, complete,
No adolescent experiments
With girls
Not even the innocent observation
Of parents
Passionate in love
Nor even father in the shower
Utterly innocent, scarce knowing
The power of his loins
Never the stirred emotion
As the beautiful girls passed by
Laughing as they do
With the joy of life
Flaunting their charm
For the appraising masculine eye
Or loose lipped with hot desire
Rich with the heady scents of love
Enticing him.
Poor man.
Not one of these rich moments
Have conditioned him
Pure male virgin
But -- Eve was made for him
And clearly he for her
No choice our primal parents had
The marriage was arranged.
And He who made it so
Was devious with the means
He used to bring them low.
 

Heard? Yes he heard them
Heard the siren song
Heard with head heart and every
Taut and trembling nerve
Heard with vast deep eternal longing
As so great a spirit
Would yearn for such a peace
Heard but heeded not
The siren call; the ancient plea
Heard --but bound himself
And passed them safely by.

And thus should we.

The good Lord had no sooner set
Adam's big feet on the ground
He knew that he had made a blue
An error most profound.

So he made woman -- Eve
Sensible -- enticing and so sweet
Better looking all around
With smaller neater feet.

Your job, he said, and set it up
Is very plain to see
Is just to keep an eye on him
Throughout posterity.

Our Hazel with some media help
To keep an eye on Bob
And sweet Doreen an Aussie gal, to keep
The Bloke up to his job.

Victoria to hold a rein
On Albert's foreign ventures
And Di -- in our own day to keep
Charles up to his fences.

And that's the way its always been
Through time to more or less degree
For that's the way He set it up
To keep an eye on you
And me.
 

We grope about them
Never to see
Nor understand
The beauty and the purpose
Of the whole
Of these immortal walls
Comprehending only
The fragment before us
In our too brief today
And those amongst us
Weak of sight or blind
Know only the hard realities
That bruise the soul, daunt the spirit
And defeat the mind.

Never see all -- nor comprehend
The august majesty
The incomparable beauty
The eternal excellence
The justice nor the wisdom
See never the great creative love
Of these soul enclosing laws.
 

The reality illumines life
Brings understanding
Of the dire contradictions
That breed our human woe
Reveals the great and simple law
Teaches love of all things mortal
The soul respecting love
Of self -- of mankind
And of Thee.
 

Take heed how you bind him
Be clever as you can
Never take too lightly
The measure of a man.

The everlasting partner
Hunting, questing he
Take care how you bind him,
Bind, but keep him free.

Surely she shall lose him
Who counts his manhood won
Her spell must bind him gently
Or all will be undone.
 

From within
Wordless
Are we assuaged
The spirit calmed
The dark mind cleansed.

Therefore
Should we not
As admonished

Pray without ceasing
With Him.
Hourly partake the waters of life
The cleansing
And the calm.
 

How the sun burns
The grass is gone
Sweet coverlet -- soft floor
And sustenance for all
Burned -- and no rain falls.
Hot winds and the sun
Have drained the springs
Dried the rivers in their beds
All living things
Give way
To desiccate decay
Soils sinter into lifeless dust.

We, ourselves, did this
So few dry years ago
We, ourselves, stripped Eden
We took the trees!
The living shelter of this once lovely land
Our hunger for the land
Our own strong hands
Laid waste the trees
Ruined the rivers
With their sustaining springs.

When first we saw the place
Water was pure, rivers ran clear
The trees were guardian
Nurtured waters and land
Sheltered valley and flat from flood.

Yes when we saw it first
The place was a garden
And we who stripped it
Have ourselves made of that Eden

This
Regret can never expiate such base stupidity.

Now this the younger son
Wearied with years of toil
In the hot sun
Won the fruitful yields
From out his father's fields
Bethought him often
Of the city life -- the spoil
And conquest of a different kind of toil.

So took his share
( Generous enough )
Of the father's garnered savings
And,
Though scarce meaning to shirk
Left Dad and older son
To do the work.

Soon found a city wench
Fair as such wenches go
Who robbed him quickly
Gave freely of the pox
And quickly brought him low.

Unemployed now and badly broke
Fed swine to earn a paltry crust
And spent long days
Musing
On his well deserved fate
Decided then and there
Though late
To mend his ways
Came to himself and said
I must arise
And go to my father
O fateful, pregnant phrase!

Came to himself indeed
Went home
To face his Dad
The laughter and the ire
Of hard working older lad.

Glad tears of welcome
Burned sore the father's eye
He shouted to the servants
The fatted calf must die
Make quick a feast
To welcome home
The wayward long lost one
Returned praise God and welcome home
Though foolish -- is my son.

The older, sweating in the field
And hearing the commotion
Returns to the house.

What's this he cries
This drunken sot
Comes home diseased and broke
He's spent his fortune
And now he hopes
To get another lot.

I've slogged for years
To get us wealthy
Never yet
Have you made a feast for me
What ails you Dad? It's sad
You favour this poor brute -- he's bad.

The father's brow was sad
The father's voice was low
My son, All that I have is yours
He said
When I to heaven go.

But this, thy brother
He was lost
But he again is found
Rejoice with me dear older son
For deep at heart he's sound
And now is saved
From want and sin
As you will never see.

So praise the Lord
Be glad my sons
And both rejoice with me.

All of you wayward sons of men
Wherever you may roam
Are welcome to the father's heart
Come home, dear child, come home.
 

One memoried day
At rest on mountain side
In the pleasant land
A tall fine plume
Blue, slim lined, gently curling
Climbed the still air
From unseen campfire
It spoke of thee
With sure clear certitude.

Troubled, I walked the shore
Of the great sea
Calm, blue -- truly Pacific
Seas edge lost in the blue horizon
Dear heart -- it gave me peace
Speaking so of thee
Strong memoried past
Strong future hope of thee.
 

The ancient mystery spoken plain
The word revealed
The simple way we gain
Heart ease and access to Him
All human pain assuaged
In that quiet secret place
All doubt resolved
Each wayward thought
Turned gently to our home.

This is indeed
The oft and long sought truth
The open doorway
To our human earthly heaven.

Be still, only be still
The deep sad tide of human pain
Can only then be soothed
The errant child folded in
The father's heart again.
 

The old priest
You said
Likes to give you a hug
And nestle his face
Against your breast.

And I said
Give him his peace
As he thus finds it there
Perhaps even in prayer
He cannot find such peace
So -- be generous
And give him his peace
So great a gift
Be generous
And give him
His moment of peace.

How deeply
Do I understand his need
Never myself have found
In creed or service
Discourse or philosophy
So sweet a peace -- as there.
 

Six days He said
And it was so
Because He said it.

For, as He explained to Eve
Who liked to talk about things
In a general kind of way
(Before He tempted them.)

It was manifestly
Quite impossible
To set out all the detail
They wouldn't understand
The science or the planning.

Why sure, they must have truth
Laid out most clear
And simple in their day
That he who runs may read
No fool
Need stumble on this way.

And so the long ages
Of thoughtful preparation
Land -- seas -- and air
And the sun and moon
Made the rich seed bed
Of all the wonder there.

Then the reproductive cells
And the selection of the best
From the humblest beginnings
Dear Eve -- another age
Has quickly passed by here.

Then the simple cell
Through progressive orders
Each the planned product
Of the proven one before
Flora and fauna in profusion
Grace earth, in variety profound
And through the years -- long ages
Transformed to higher orders
Our critics to confound.

Long ages and profoundest thought
To consolidate the frame
And vital parts -- womb, heart and brain
Transmission of the best
By cross fertility to shape
All future destinies, and so refine
Orders with species -- beauty and design.

And so by such tedious
Constructive and intensive
Means, cunning and inventive
(The knowing ones will understand
The symbols and the deep intent)
The universal oneness
Of each separate individual --
By such means have I evolved
My consciousness in man.

And this world's work dear Eve
Is really just begun
With you
Your children will resolve
Great mysteries, bright in the dreaming
Their hands, my hands will be
Unfolding all - shaping the future
Whence all return to me.
How tell them this?
Always they ask "why"
And "who" and "how"
But wax impatient
Beg for simple answers
Magic -- signs.

And so I said "Six days"
Thus encompassing all
Countless eons are compressed
In proper order
In those six days expressed.

And on the seventh day
( Septenary signs, ripe with
Wisdom of the ages lie about )
Thus on the seventh day
I rested.

So rest you Dear Eve
And ponder wisdom
Understanding will flower
In the deep heart.

Reflect on my words and works
In certain faith
And through long ages yet to be
Hold steadfast faith
With confidence in me.
 

Four rivers flow from the garden
Four great streams govern the soul.

First and greatest -- Id
The ceaseless flooding flow
Of the deep unconscious self
Source of all fantasy
In the living mind
In deep and hidden tides
All here confined.

Birthplace of all our gods
The deep unfathomed mind
Where all experience abides
And all our fears enshrined.

I AM dwells silent here
I govern all -- a hell
Or heaven on earth as men desire
Within my call.

Then flows the turbulent stream
Of primitive emotion
Conditioned or unconditioned
The hates, the greed, the rages
Lies and false witness -- and pride
Darkest of all follies
Wars and great scandals
All jostle in this turgid stream
Who frolics here his cause is lost
As was Pandora and her fateful box.

And the third great river is action
Fed by the same deep springs
But the waters, clearer by intent
Are governed, and direct us to
The better life; the fields about
Grow fruitful and abundant
These waters nourish all.

Fancy is sublimed to action
Imagination blooms in vision
And creation flowers
All the future is seeded here
And nourished to bring forth
Man's dreams to bright reality.

From the sands of this great river
Is the gold panned -- hard won
Of wisdom -- understanding
And beauty flourish here
And all the works of man's hands
And the vision of his questing mind
Here satisfied.

Prometheus unbound -- and he
Dreamer and maker
Of all that is yet to be.

And the last great stream
Acheron -- no other
No Cerberus here -- but Lethe
Brings forgetfulness of the past life
And the stream moves on
To the unknown goal
A rebirth in some other where.

These waters, mingle and meld
Through all our ways
Claiming last penance
Life's work, life's dreams, life's days
And all achievement
Sad tribute from all men.

Small solace
That all men share such fate
Life beyond Life -- beyond this death
Another birth, another life beyond death's gate.

Through all our myriad
Our diverse and individual ways
Such waters run, the full tides
Flow unceasing through our days.

And some grow swift -- and fair
Nourished by the waters
For seed is fruitful in the fertile mind
And the wide plains grow lush
And beauty flowers there.

And the swift flow and the rush
And the white broken waters
And the dark still deeps
And the placid reaches, sun warmed
Of the four great rivers
Which compass the garden
They are the life and death and birth
Of all mankind. The flow
Of the four great rivers of life
Which set the garden of our world around.
 

Mans eyes search outward
New horizons are his goal
But the warm maternal eye

Looks inward to nurture
And sustain the human soul.
And motherhood the absolute
Self sacrifice is sanctified
When offered with the mother gift of love.

So as the strong maternal line
Gifts life, all joy and love
All sweet things human
Men should assuredly then
Gift honour to all woman.
 

His ringing words my plan
Put childish things behind you
Become you now a man.

Childhood's fears behind me
Childhood's blinding tears
Childhood's imps and bogeymen
Now gone with childhood years.
 

The Golden Lotus?
The Search?
The Soundless Centre?
Nirvana?
Satori?
The Infinite Way?
And bliss
All is found within
And there, all roads
Lead to Him.
 

One day the truth you seek
Will enter in both ears
And meet that peace
Above your eyes
Where understanding
Is a light.

Strange is it not!
But that is the way
You will understand.