World
Once Again
Painting courtesy of Karuna Le Feuvre
This year’s spring left me one step behind
As winter’s barrenness left the fields.
I felt detached, remote, alone,
Though self-sufficient in a centripetal
sort of way.
Then one morning I woke up,
To hear the sounds of distant traffic
on a mountain road,
With all that hazy stillness
between the road and me;
And summer’s promise hummed heavy
on the land,
And I felt I had been reconnected
To this new year’s revolving,
And wondered what it would bring.
Ancient Sunshine
Walking in the ancient sunshine
I am suddenly as old as the rocks,
And all around me
Vibrates with me.
And I glimpse,
As my stomach tilts,
And I glide into recognition,
I glimpse that all this around me
Is the other side of myself.
And the dancing centre point
Is dancing still,
As I walk on…
Through ancient sunshine.
Music and children’s voices composed
and recorded by Steve Cross
Point Counter Point
The World
a quietly balanced whole
moving internally
to replace its losses
a complete illusion
as real as iron
each part the reflection
of the remainder
undivided
and if the sum were added
like snow on water
the void again
and myself
– eternal identity –
Sea Life
Of course there is life and thought in the sea,
How could I be so stupid as to forget it?
The porpoise acting in sheer joy
and the singing of the whales
remind me of this.
My world is a complete circle,
for it is not limited to the segment of dry land
my everyday mind occupies.
Of course there are flaming stars in the deeps of space,
how could I be so stupid as to forget it?
The twinkling span of Orion
and the luminous mystery of his sword,
remind me of this.
My world is a complete circle,
for the stars blaze as much above me,
as light years beneath my feet.
Of course there is eternity in the fact of my seeing
How could I be so stupid as to forget it?
The abyss at the cessation of each breath
and the wonder that I, alive, know that I am seeing,
remind me of this.
My world is a complete circle,
for that which is capable of seeing,
existed before there was anything to be seen.
Search
A thousand measurements were made
To measure what did span anew
A chaos over line supreme
And what they knew?
A thousand measurements were made
A newer vision there to see
To bend an arc to find again
And what they knew?
A thousand measurements were made
A recollection dropped to place
A finer vision comprehend
And then they knew.
Under a Blue Sky
The wheat field’s million-harvest
Molten golden waves wind blown
Material sunlight growing to kiss the ether waves
Whispering together in its sea froth hiss of light
Showing us its light-born laughter
In a thousand ways.
Why This World?
Why the world runs on to this
When bliss
When bliss
Is all it is.
To take the “all” as “only” here
Makes the world run on to this.
When all the power
That can be found
Comes down to this
Down to this bliss
Then up comes all
That ever can be
And that’s all there is
Just bliss
Just bliss
JFK to Dulles, March 2005
Spring sunlight on the wing
A Barbie doll offers me pretzels
Twenty thousand feet.
Faint vanilla fragrance from the aircon
Jet roar felt in seat
Have I lost my onward ticket?
Ten thousand square miles of sunlit cloud
Beneath a blue spring sky
Their grey day below
The fresh air jets on my forehead
Feeling the emptiness all around
I remember my childhood
A million sparkles on the river far below
While the scudding forest bares its secrets to the sky
Down again, adverts, donuts and delays.
Leaves
Painting courtesy of Karuna Le Feuvre
Dry leaves chasing around the house
How strange-
That one passed three times now!
Home Sweet Home
A warm world of friendly surfaces
Smiling my Self back to me
Home again!
Home again!
Off the coast of 3am
Painting courtesy of Karuna Le Feuvre
Off the coast of 3am
The telegraphic beacons flash
Faint signals from the distant day.
So night has washed its hands of sleep
And anxious thought in tilting tides
Keeps me from safe landing.
Jet
Accelerating in the competent jet:
The linear push of ample power;
The backward rushing runway’s run;
The bump of airborn moment gone;
The smooth and silent eager climb;
Over slow motion map below.
Voyage
The rushing waves, the creeping clouds,
My cabin hanging in between,
Hear throbbing engines fatal say:
The voyage now begun, like life,
Inexorably will end.
Night Sky
There is something of the night sky
In my balls, as I weigh them in my hand,
There is something of the night sky in my balls.
And then there are thoughts that fall into silence,
Like moonbeams into a dark place.
And then there are thoughts that lift and cheer,
Like sunshine onto my face.
But mostly there is something of the night sky in my balls.
Wading In The Sea
Tons of water poised, turning and rolling,
Crashes into my back,
Only its fluidity and my buoyancy
Saving me from the destruction
That would instantly follow its being concrete.
Summer!
Windows left open,
Heating forgotten,
Zephyrs in the house,
Summer!
At last.