And Help Him Comfort

God has
a special interest in women
for they can lift this world to their breast
and help Him
comfort.

Mira

What We Do For Light II

Your image now burned like a vow
without the piece of paper that

I accidentally relied upon
in so many shadows
droplets on my face left
my body hungry for your
condition-less gaze your
pose striking over and over at the foot
of the bed at

the foot of our mistakes

What did I think I wanted?
Something other than that?

Three long years to remember what I forgot when
Your face superimposed my love
Your Grace confused my lust

I fought for its life with every strength and sinew until you

revealed kidneys now depleted and
Grace clumsily evaded as I wrapped my raw
hands around that which was never

True, you

still standing at the foot of the bed looking,
Can your heart see clearly yet?
This vow eats and becomes me

True love has no choice

It is neither yes nor no

It was always you at

the foot of the bed watching, waiting
My dear love without limit
How did you create me so lucky, so deserving of You?

Because the breath in your pulse is mine
Because the enigmas in your mistakes are my doing
And because you no longer
Have a choice in the matter as

True love is neither yes, nor no

My Dear.

What We Do For Light

The shutters permanently open for at
least nine months then
there was you closing them next
to my half lit
body, next
to the doors closing as silent
and serendipitously as they opened

What began with butoh now ends with it

What began as

A deeply steeped cup of forgetfulness
ensued as my lines blurred with his even as
they lay with friends I, no I couldn't muster

the bouyancy the vision to dance as
my light grew dimmer with every
new street story
with every muddled love
dampened confession

What began with butoh now ends with it as I
Silently try to comprehend the
unimaginable awe is this pain
unimaginable awe in these tricks, in these

ancient misunderstandings and my
new resolve to take heart comfortably, coyly
on my time now and in my own style I

resolve to live awe-
struck open
In respite and relief - heartbound

by Joy at Sudden Disappointment sees
through far hills and near walls this
life that breaths
itself awake
In all the lengths we go
All that we did for light
What I did for light,
for one sip,

What we do for light
What I've done for this light
It was all for one more sip

***

The invisible fists of our soulmates
Hack and hack and hack and hack at
those locked doors inside that hold
A quickening brilliance and deafening dark
Behind the same door is the

fountain of life that we
rock and resist with everybeat

along the path at every
stop along the way there is

always someone else to conveniently blame

until your sweaty palms at teatime
take in the ocean as whole-
heartedly as her body and

from that vast ocean we drink.

Joy At Sudden Disappointment

Whatever comes, comes from a need,
a sore distress, a hurting want.

Mary's pain made the baby Jesus.
Her womb opened its lips
and spoke the Word.

Every part of you has a secret language.
Your hands and your feet say what you've done.

And every need brings in what's needed.
Pain bears its cure like a child.

Having nothing produces provisions.
Ask a difficult question,
and the marvelous answer appears.

Build a ship, and there'll be water
to float it. The tender-throated
infant cries and milk drips
from the mother's breast.

Be thirsty for the ultimate water,
and then be ready for what will
come pouring from the spring.

A village woman once was walking by Muhammad.
She thought he was just an ordinary illiterate.
She didn't believe that he was a prophet.

She was carrying a two month old baby.
As she came near Muhammad, the baby turned
and said, "Peace be with you, Messenger of God."

The mother cried out, surprised and angry,
"What are you saying,
and how can you suddenly talk!"

The child replied, "God taught me first,
and then Gabriel."
"who is this Gabriel? I don't see anyone."
"He is above your head, Mother. Turn around. He has been telling me many things."
"Do you really see him?"
"Yes. He is continually delivering me from this degraded state into sublimity."
Muhammad then asked the child,
"What is your name?"

"Abdul Aziz, the servant of God, but this family
thinks I am concerned with world-energies.
I am as free of that as the truth of your prophecy is."

So the little one spoke, and the mother
took in a fragrance that let her surrender
to that state.
When God gives this knowing,
inanimate stones, plants, animals, everything,
fills with unfolding significance.

The fish and birds become protectors.
Remember the incident of Muhammad and the eagle.

It happened that as he was listening to this inspired baby, he heard a voice calling him to prayer. He asked for water to perform ablutions. He washed his hands and feet, and just as he reached for his boot, an eagle snatched it away! The boot turned upside-down as it lifted, and a poisonous snake dropped out.

The eagle circled and brought the boot back,
saying, "My helpless reverence for you made this necessary. Anyone who acts this presumptuously for a legalistic reason should be punished!"

Muhammad thanked the eagle,
and said, "What I thought was rudeness was really love. You took away my grief and I was grieved! God has shown me everything, but at the moment I was preoccupied iwthin myself."
The eagle,
"But chosen one, any clarity I have comes from you!"
This spreading radiance
of a True Human Being has great importance.
Look carefully around you and recognize
the luminosity of souls. Sit beside those who draw you to that.

Learn from this eagle story that when misfortune comes, you must quickly praise.

Others may be saying, Oh no, but you
will be opening out like a rose
losing itself petal by petal.

someone once asked a great sheikh
what sufism was.

"The feeling of joy when sudden disappointment comes."

the eagle carries off Muhammad's boot
and saves him from snakebite.

Don't grieve for what doesn't come.
Some things that don't happen
keep disasters from happening.

~Rumi