Waxing

                    The Waxing                    Jan 18 2009   

       
Today the voices of the young men and women
Carried me like the tide

I am past the age
My spirit, it still yearns,
But my heart retires, slipping behind its drape
And lowering its eyes when the tides begin to roar.
Storms I have seen, and wreckage plenty, on the shore of sand
I yield, knowing my time for battling the elements is past its strength
Though yet, within, the spirit, it still stands.

But today the voices of the young men and women
Carried me out to sea again
And I remembered the strength
I recognized the waxing
And so grateful I was
Relieved for myself, and comforted
Because the young men and women are waxing strong.

Like a snail whose shell rolls on the beach,
Worn away and boney crust full of holes
I am rolling on the shore of sand
Yielding,
Thinking, how slender a time are we subject to the elements
How fragile here, we who were brightly colored and gleaming
And who spiral about now in the sands
Like little seeds rolling in a great palm.

There I sat in the ecclesia, singing the old old hymns,
While scenes of history poured their blood down the screen of my eyes
The marvelous hymns providing the backdrop
For all the terrors of the fanatical,
For all the misguided fervor of the religious politic
I am past the age, and the weight of the blood of history
Sometimes it anchors me like stone.

But I saw, too; There were then as there are now,
Those who see
They see the Majesty
Never mind the trappings and the gilt.  Never mind the treachery.
They see.

So I saw. 

I saw two things.
I saw two beings

I saw the angels singing; indeed, they were singing all around me
They moved all around
And in wonder we perceived their voices
Coming from the throats of those around us

And I saw the others; they were not light; they were disguised, 
But they were not light, and they did not see.
So; there were beings of light, and others, who were not

I softened my gaze
Two ways of being; one, light, and one, not.
I softened my gaze
The light of each light grew large

Large, until light was all.