Waves

Well, i can't explain it but to say that i was unable to take a walk today due to rain. i found myself reflecting on a thought for a poem that has been bouncing around my head for a while.
i have now put it onto paper. Three poems in as many days.

Waves

The formation of a beach
Is beyond all reach
For the time it takes
To make its mark
Long outlasts
The ones that watch
And wait

Each wave crashes,
then crawls
Making its mark,
then receding
Reluctantly clinging
to the sand

Reunion awaits the wave
Making room for another
And yet more
Each one a brother

Each generation we crash
On the shores of life
Making our mark
Through joy and strife
On the sands of time
For but a moment we shine
Then return we must
To the reunion and trust
That, the next generation
With elation
Will carry on
shiidon, August, 2007

Love

Well, two nights in a row. i started walking for excercise. Lakeway has a city park on the Lake and i go there to take walks, especially on the weekends. i am waling approximately eighteen miles a week now, which is good all things considered. While i do have a muse of sorts, it is on these walks that i am inspired by what i see or feel or hear. Usually there is a theme or idea that foments in my mind and wont leave until i put it down on "paper." One of these is the theme of love.
i wrote this poem an hour ago. And now i await the next verse that comes........

Love
Created from love
To love the Creator
The sum of all, is love
Recognized now, or later

It knows no bound
No limit or measure
Beyond all
The greatest treasure

It is sometimes felt
That love is defined
By how we look at
And view in our mind
The meaning of love
By placing limits

Like borders
Around countries
The wall imaginary
Keeping some out
Keeping some in
When in reality
The borders within

When attachment, self
and desire come to play
It colors our love
Creates distance from above
And dooms one to loss
Leaving nothing but dross

When in the end
There is only one love
That comes from above

To see Him in all
And love one and all
To open ones heart
and play ones part
to love and be loved
and see divine order
removing that
man made border
in our hearts
shiidon, August 2007

Character

i was speaking with my mother the other day and she was both telling me how she is not able to do some of the things she used to and at the same time reminding me that it is character first and foremost. In the end it is not how many times you fall but how well you end up after picking yourself up. While she is not four score years until next year i used "poetic license."
i was inspired to write this poem.

Character
Four score and an eternity
She lived on this earth
Growing tired day by day
As she awaits a new birth

Reflecting on what has been
She sees from wisdom
Deep within
At what is important
What is not
And what has brought
Such deep thought

The importance of life
Born from strife
Is the character created
From the challenges we face

Tests come and go
What they mean
We may not know
But in the end
We grow
The stronger the tests
The more it will show

In the end it is not
the outward beauty
nor is it occupation or things
born of this world
it is the character that shines
when all else will fold

Look not upon
things that shall pass
look to character
destined to last
Take heed to this
And you will have bliss
For after many years
Finally
you will
know this

shiidon August, 2007

Pieces of me

Yesterday i was at a devotional and it brought to mind the one i was at the previous month. i saw a friend hold and regard a prayer book that it turns out i gave them some twenty years ago. This book traveled from place to place and country to country. i picked it up again and this poem came to me. i wrote it last month but did not share it at that time.

Pieces of me
Most likely, we shall rarely know
The impact we have
On those who grow
Though our friendship and deeds
Where and when it leads

With time becomes clear
As the end draws near
That time of reunion
In the other realm
When reflect we must
See those words and deeds
Held so dear in trust

Pieces of me,
left now in dust
it becomes clear
why we each hold each other
So dear
shiidon, July 2007

Abhá

In the fall of 1990 i had a dream that was real and profound. It was one of those rare dreams that was as real if not more real than our waking moments. Today i felt driven to write a poem about that dream. Unlike some of the other poems that i have shared here this one is more personal and not as universal. It is not a shared experience as the ones about the Holy Land are.

Abhá*
Early one morning
While deep in slumber
I wandered the worlds
Infinite in number

Upon a foundation, round
My aunt was chanting
And I found
A host of people
Circumambulating
Deep and profound

The sky was blue,
The walkway white stone
The air was pure
Not a blemish was shown

Joy and love were all around
A tune was playing
A beautiful sound
Two faces I saw
Dear friends from here
Of which I have always felt near

Off to the side a garden I saw
Of pure white gypsum
With no flaw
Within that garden
Twelve head did I see
As they turned with great smiles
As they looked at me

The power and presence
Overwhelming my soul
With one word I awoke
Not able to stay
Not wanting
to go away
the word that escaped my mouth
with a shout
wide awake
was
“The Martyrs”
Shiidon, August 2007

*Abhá is Arabic for Heaven

Circumambulate

This weekend i was reflecting on my recent pilgrimage to the Bahá'í World Center. Of my four trips to the Holy Land i had the bounty of being present twice for the commemoration of the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. It is at the hour of His passing on May 29th (4:00am) that the Tablet of Visitation is said. After that those present circumambulate the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh. It is such a magical and special experience and i wanted to express it in some way in verse. The following poem came to mind.

Circumambulate

Within the sacred quadrant
Deep into the night
Sitting upon chairs
For a long, and eventful night


It was but a few score years ago
That our lord took his flight
To His realm above
This very night

And now before,
His Holy Shrine
A host assembled
From this realm and above
To commemorate that hour
When the earth trembled
At its loss, with love

As the night charges on
From all corners of the world
A multitude gathers and prays
at this very spot
That stands before us
And like a silent chorus
We stand at the appointed hour
The prayer said
With meter and power
Resonating it sounds
And like a ladder
Takes our souls
To a place newly found

The prayer ends
We turn and walk
To circumambulate
That blessed spot

Silently and deep in thought
We walk
step by careful step

Each step upon the broken tiles
A reminder of those tests and trials
The sound not unlike falling chains
Releasing souls from
This earthly reign

Circumambulating
That sacred throne
The host passes
One by one

The Shrine
Bathed in light
On that deep dark night
Washes onto the passer
In seeming return
For the devotion expressed
At every turn

And while this host
passes all around
Across the world
The prayers sound
To this very spot
This very night
In the realm above
A glorious sight

With heavy hearts, we leave
for, but a brief moment
in another place
Not of this world
But small trace
of reunion
shiidon, August 2007

Carmel

First of all, i am sorry for the concern that the previous post caused. i was not dying but just felt a new sense of detachment that was profound for me.
i have been reflecting on my pilgrimage last year to the Bahá'í World Center. i wanted to be able to express in some way the feeling of being in the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel. The Báb was the first of the twin Manifestations of the Bahá'í Faith and His remains are buried within this Shrine. If i try to describe any more it will not convey what i felt. The only other attempt is my narrative on my four visits to the Holy Land that i wrote last year.


Carmel

Stepping inside
From one world to another
The pilgrim enters,
a world of peace
a world of wonder

Time stands still
The golden light
Glows all around
a wondrous sight

Kneeling down, eyes drop closed
Bowing ones head lower and lower
Until all is lost of this world
Deep in prayer over and over

The sounds in that chamber
Echo distantly, afar
Resonating and amplifying
A shadow of the prayer
Onward to Abhá

What is real or unreal
What is here or there
No one could say that
They would care
For peace is found
On that hallowed ground
On that blessed mountain
Flowing with fountains
The heart of Carmel

Shiidon, August 2007

Reunion

i left work yesterday feeling ill. With various side effects of the said illness i found myself in the heat of pain and concern as loss of feeling had started on my fingers and hands. whilst in the midst of this i thought of death and suffering. Normally, i would ask God to deliver me from this pain, heal me or take me. This time i was consigned. In speaking to Him i embraced the pain and suffering and left myself to His will. It was at this point that my thought took me to what would i want to say to people at that point when He does decide to take me. Many verses came to mind but it was not until the morning that i was able to type the poem that follows. In the Baha'i Faith there is no heaven or hell. We are told that we would recognize each other and that the afterlife is a joyous "place." Since we do not know what it is like the poem is short and direct to the point of what i would want to say just before "crossing over." i feel this is not any different, in the end, from what any of us or our loved ones who have gone before would say.

Reunion
Walking into the golden light
To a world of joy, delight
Ones whole life preparing
For this sight

Grieve not your loss
For overjoyed are we
At the reunion
That is meant to be
This is for all, our destiny

Into the arms of so many loved
So happy, so joyous
And now, to my
Beloved


shiidon August, 2007

Poem on Bahji

i have had the blessing of going to the Baha'i World Center in Haifa four times.  Three of the four times i was welcomed at the Shrine of Baha'u'llah by my mothers cousin Ruhi and her husband Feri who were caretakers.  March of 1992 i had the bounty of having dinner with them at the pilgrim house with my dear friends Roy and Shiva (hi Roy, hi Shiva).

After dinner Feri asked if we would like to visit the Shrine of Baha'u'llah.  We did and the feeling was overwhelming.  i describe the visit in detail in my narrative on the four visits to Haifa.  This poem is to describe in some small way the experience that marked that visit at night.  The Shrine is lit inside and has a very different feel at night.  i hope you enjoy.

Threshold

Deep in the evening
When the earth settles down
The threshold wears
a golden crown
This crown of light
That fills the night
that blessed room
A spectacular sight

The room, still
Nightingales sing
The smell of roses, bring
The soul to ring
With the resonance that is
The Threshold

Night and day
From far away
The prayers come
accompanied by angels
Who dance in light
The magic that is the night
Standing in wonder at such a sight

Step by careful step
To that Blessed spot
The angles seem to part
Making way for this lowly one
To open up his heart

Please oh please, let me stay
My prayers sent here, every day
Where souls dwell
and hearts swell
With love for Him

Life without
brings pain and doubt
can one go on
after seeing
heaven

And now in prayer
Return is made
To that blessed chamber
With inner eyes
Dancing with angels
Forever
Shiidon, June 2007