A Poetic Greeting to One and All

Beloved friend
hiding behind an unfamiliar face
in a coat of ancient living flesh
whose sigh I recognize
whose heartbeat reverberates in my veins
whose anguish grips me with pain
whose silent cry for help echoes in my inner ear
as I resolve once more
to shout and kick myself to keep awake
lest my memory grow indistinct again
and I forget
who you are.

Beloved friend
whose voice I recognize
for we’ve moaned and wailed and cursed together
and sung to the glory of God
countless hymns
throughout time.

Beloved friend
whose footprints I recognize
for we’ve walked for ages side by side
through sand, snow and sleet
scaled together countless ridges and cliffs
coloring them with the pain of our bleeding feet.

Beloved friend
whose firm grasp I can’t forget
for whenever disheartened and lost
I slipped into a quagmire
you were there to pull me back.

I now come to serve you
I come to stir you awake.

Beloved friend
you who feel forsaken, forlorn
distinct, separate, apart
I say you are not.

Brush the nightmares off your coat
heave the burdens off your chest
rub the world out of your eyes
and look inside where truth lies.

You have no outer adversary
the many are but one
serving as mirror to yourself
till inner healing is done.

For you are the sound and the ear
invincible courage and fear;
you are the tyrant, victim
benefactor, jailer, thief.

You are the viewer, you are the scene
what do you see on the screen?
All that is not love is for you to heal
for love is what you are, and have always been
love in need of new understanding.

You are the forest and the tree
you are the wave and the sea
you are the Buddha, the cross, Mother Mary
see with the eyes of the soul
one life disguised as many.

Beloved friend
hiding behind an unfamiliar face,
hear the rumble of the growing chaos
spinning at an ever greater speed;
it wants to assail you, it wants to derail you
it wants to blast you, shatter and scatter you ---
let it not prevail.

Love and accept all that you are
love and honor the impulse of your heart
for love is the healer, the salve, the bridge and the glue
love is all, all that is real
thrusting into being
as you.