such a long, long way that we have come
so many struggles met, darkness now dispelled
since we were flames of burning light

we left the arbour of eternity
by the power of that wing that bears us still
the wing of desire
the great wing that spans the reach of space
the grasp of time

that the great wing should rise up from the canyons of eternity
and bear us up upon the paths of multiplicity
is no miracle, nor mystery

all motion must of itself make rest
all stillness motion

we are here now
regardless of our notions time will pass us on
to other unknown realms
which from prejudice we might decry
but wheresoever we may be
whether we name them glory or dust
our turf is chosen

the wing of desire has stirred our hearts
in so many ways
and we take each chance we can
to turn that thrust to peace

let us openly recall that we are not
that great wing that drives us forth
as we are not who that stranger thinks we are
nor who our lover thinks we are
not even who we think we are

for we cannot be bound in the bonds of thought
as we are not found in the winds of desire
but let us give it welcome
for it has brought us here
and here we are all royalty
the world an oyster at our feet
if we find it so

so let us embrace desire and the realities that it spawns
with generosity, with openness
with no unnecessary definition
of who or what we think ourselves to be
nor of who or what we think another
let us be generous to both
by being unattached, to idea and to reality

let us not take too seriously the transient form
fleeting image of accumulated circumstance
we so ernestly insist is who we are
let us learn to laugh at ourselves
at those all too personal idiosyncrasies
we hurl like gauntlets upon the world
knowing that who we think we are is but an echo of passing karma
let us also be gracious to others
by not assuming that they are who we think they are
who they think they are

let us remember that in the perfection of undifferentiated light
all colours are contained
in the formlessness of unity is the multiplicity of form
and that there there is not even one
for there is no other

knowing that
knowing that we are light
refracted on the quivering wing of desire
let us honour the other
as it appears
knowing that it is only by that hallucination's power
that we, also, appear to exist

let us not condemn the rock on which we stand
the root on which we feed
let us embrace desire
and be generous to all flying in its feathers
both as who, mistakenly, we take them to be
and what, mistakenly, we think they are not

let us go then quietly
until desire once more rests in peace
multiplicity in unity
let us go laughing at our endless masquerades
while conjuring more from the feathers where we fly
laughing gently
laughing freely at our own self
for there is no other

 

1978
to ellen