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7 October, 2007 at 4:52 am
To see a world in a grain of sand
and heaven in a wild flower -
to hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour
(William Blake)
29 December, 2008 at 5:15 am
IN A DARK WOOD
The trees are ripe with metaphors,
Novel scenes, poetic words,
Whisper secret revelation
Of young love in separation
For these are the Crying Girls of Vraja
And this is the state of Divine Love…
‘It’s late at night My dear girls,
Late at night in this dark grove,
Wild animals come out at night,
Please go home…leave this place behind’
For these are the Crying Girls of Vraja
And this is the state, the state of Divine Love…
All alone, here in this Dark Wood, ‘Where did You go?’
18 July, 2009 at 1:44 pm
The gopis had forsaken everything to meet with their lotus-eyed Lord, Krishna. They went into Vrindavan forest in the dead of night to meet Him.
They were so attracted by the sound of His flute-playing, but when they reached Him, He said, ‘It is late at night, My dear girls. Wild animals are out at night. Please go back home, back to your husbands.’
The gopis were devastated by these words. Their love for Krishna was unparallelled. They had risked everything to be here with Him and now He was turning them away!
These are the crying girls of Vraja and this is the state of divine love.
29 December, 2008 at 5:21 am
RUKMINI’S DETERMINATION
Rukmini is young
and fine -
the child-bride
of Lord Krishna
She was prepared to die
of austerities to achieve Lord Krishna
She went to the Temple of Durga
to win the favour of Lord Krishna,
‘O, let Krishna be my husband!’
Rukmini’s determination
So hard to define -
Grave as eternal time,
the child-queen of Lord Krishna
Ornaments
and beautiful jewels.
Who could ever describe
the beauty
of Rukmini?
29 August, 2009 at 3:23 pm
‘Princess Rukmini, the daughter of King Bhismaka, was actually as attractive as fortune itself because she was as valuable as gold both in color and value’
(A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam 3.3.3 purport)
7 March, 2009 at 2:29 pm
DANCE OF THE RAIN
Never was there a time
when you or I did not exist
nor in the future
shall any of us ever
cease to be
Her iron fist
beats my face,
with pride of lions,
aggressive grace -
In the heartland of love’s
bittersweet memory
Bittersweet, Bittersweet
Ever heard the wild beasts
running on the plains?
Dance of the Rain,
nostrils and manes -
In the heartland of love’s
bittersweet memory
Bittersweet, Bittersweet
Have you heard the wild beasts
running on the plains?
Of aeroplanes,
mortal remains -
and I’m lost in the womb of bhum-bhum-bhumi
I’m lost in the womb of bhum-bhum-bhumi -
I’m lost in a world of lovelessness
Never was there a time
when you or I did not exist
nor in the future
shall any of us ever
cease to be
I’m lost in the womb of bhum-bhum-bhumi
In a desert
hardened by age:
blood, sweat, idolatry
A show of conventions:
the circus tents
collapsed on us,
white alabaster palaces
(kindergarten happiness)
And I’m lost in her world
She laughs softly
as she glances
over the berg-top
O, the Dance of our Sister!
the Dance of the Rain!
She is our sister,
our silvery sister,
our watery sister,
our heavenly sister
The Dance of the Rain
4 June, 2009 at 2:12 pm
DEAD SOULS
Someone take these dreams away,
That point me to another day -
A duel of personalities,
That stretch all true reality
They keep calling me, keep on calling me
When figures from the past stand tall
And mocking voices ring the halls -
Imperialistic House of Prayer,
Conquistadores who took their share
They keep calling me, keep on calling me
Another day, another time -
These dreams won’t stop or rectify -
They pour into a living sea,
Which draws me and keeps calling me
Calling me, calling me this time…
(From the song lyrics of ‘Dead Souls’, words written by Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division. The third stanza is from an unreleased version of the song. Did he get the title from Nikolai Gogol’s novel ‘Dead Souls’?. Anyway quite an intense, interesting song. Still remember the lyrics. I’ll put ‘Passover’ in next time. In her biography ‘Touching From A Distance’ his widow, Deborah, mentions that Ian was interested in studying History and Divinity. This interest manifested in interesting ways in his poetic song lyrics.
17 June, 2009 at 5:01 pm
SOME/ONE
You’re not high-heeled,
custom-made, made for this,
eloquent, elegant, hit-or-miss;
star-struck, out-of-luck,
out on a limb –
commodified ego,
colour-blind skin
some/one
a person,
not void -
you’re a person,
not void
you’re someone
who knows
someone who feels
You’re not dead-beat, dead-meat,
dead-or-alive, dead-on-arrival,
full fathom five -
You’re not carefree,
careworn, couldn’t care less -
permanent spirit-soul
in bodily dress
You’re
some/one
some/one
someone like you,
like me…
some/one
one/some
someone
you’re a person,
not void –
a person,
not void
some/one
17 June, 2009 at 5:07 pm
WITHIN
True love lies within,
The core of your heart -
It was always there -
But you never cared…
True love lies within
Is this where the tables turned?
Is this where the lyres burned?
Where they dressed Christ like a king?
With a sceptre, crown and ring?
True love never ends
and never begins -
True love never ends
and never begins
Within
True love lies within,
The core of your heart -
When rightly reposed,
love houses a rose
Within
26 July, 2009 at 4:16 am
nitya siddha krishna-prema,
sadhya kabhu-naya,
sravanadi suddha-citte,
karaye udaya
‘Love of God is eternally situated in your heart. It is awakened by the process of chanting and hearing His glories.’
It was always there, but you never cared…
23 June, 2009 at 3:33 pm
‘Avenues all lined with trees/
Eden’s garden left for thieves’
(Ian Curtis, unpublished lyrics)
27 June, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I NEED TIME
Twenty-four hours is not enough
Time for me, my lotus-eyed Lord -
Twenty-four-seven Three-sixty-five,
Eight million four hundred thousand lives
I need time
Time I am destroyer of worlds -
Destroyer of worlds
Seven days on the Ganges shore,
Seven long days I need more -
Seven years times seven times
Seven million billion lives
I need time
Don’t waste my time
Time I am destroyer of worlds -
Destroyer of worlds
I tried rhyme
I tried crime
Lyrical lines
You’re just in time,
You’re just in time,
You’re just in time…
(This is a song about Maharaja Parikisit and his meeting with Sukadeva Goswami on the Ganges shore)
18 July, 2009 at 1:28 pm
DEAD MAN WALKING (Dedicated to His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami)
Received notification
August 5th
The doctor’s answer,
diagnosis cancer -
tough love masquerading
as God’s precious gift
I can’t seem to distinguish
the wood from the trees
I see your army
is coming for me,
I try to run,
but I freeze
(Can’t beat this disease)
Woke up this morning
from the strangest dream
I saw a poet
in a forest,
he spoke to me
about heavenly things
‘Just try to love God,’
is what he said,
‘You’re a dead man walking
amongst the dead’
Fools rush in
where angles fear to tread -
Fools rush in
where angels fear to tread -
‘Follow your angels,
Follow your angels’,
he said
‘You’re a dead man walking
amongst the dead’
I’m – a – dead man – walking
amongst the dead…
18 July, 2009 at 1:34 pm
ADVENT
Earth was confused -
Demoniac kings
Had misused
Her
She took the form
Of a cow,
With tears in her eyes,
She approached Brahma
Who sat at the shore of the Ocean of Milk,
Who sat at the shore of the Ocean,
The Milk Ocean
Reciting the Ancient Prayers,
From the core of his heart,
Lord Vishnu Appeared
Transmitting the message
From the core of his heart -
Transmitting the message
From the Spiritual Sky
To our ear drum…
21 July, 2009 at 9:55 am
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna
Hare Hare
Hare Rama
Hare Rama
Rama Rama
Hare Hare
22 July, 2009 at 10:04 am
‘The vase, reconstructed, houses the elusive rose’ (Sylvia Plath)
22 July, 2009 at 10:19 am
JOURNEY OF THE HEART
Better than mother’s love,
a voice whispers, ‘Listen.
Listen to the promptings
of your heart. Listen to
the voice that you forgot’
Listen
From the valleys
to the cities
of the plains,
I remained
a wanderer,
a wanderer -
following the inner call,
following the will of the Lord
Of rapine and the ever-swelling
surge of crime -
I have a problem with this,
Oh, I have a problem with this
Embezzlement, embattled president,
his face is everywhere -
Tell me has he got a heart?
Tell me has he got a heart?
I have a problem with this
25 July, 2009 at 8:32 am
LORD DESPAIR
Let us go, then,
you and I –
the city-limits
never seem to end
No one is here,
just you and I, dear,
see the heart
behind the face -
of Lord Despair
We’re moving fast,
red-brick and empty lots -
our vizors reflect
a world of rejects,
everywhere
Every dog has his day,
everyone has his price,
his way to make you pay,
in this place
Fools rush in
where angels fear to tread,
I see dead men walking
amongst the dead
Let us go,
you and I,
to that most intimate place:
the heart behind the face
of Lord Despair
29 July, 2009 at 5:40 pm
THE WHITE GODDESS
Sink or swim in the light of pure love of Godhead
We were so close like best friends or brothers,
We were so close but from different mothers -
Exult in the light of pure – love – of – Godhead,
Sink or swim in the light of pure love of Godhead
I’m just a man sitting in a corner,
hoping to pass just one glass of water -
I’m not a bear sitting on a dark ledge,
Or a fake flower in the hands of the Goddess
Why did you let me go?
Why won’t you let me grow?
The path of love is superior to knowledge,
You left your father’s house, entered the spiritual college -
Seeing my weakness, seeing my failings,
Tying me down and hurting my feelings
I am an eternal servant of Krishna -
Hoping to get just a little bit closer,
I’m an ax handle in the hand of my Master -
I’m not this body which is made up of matter
Why did you let me go?
Why do you hurt me now?
14 August, 2009 at 7:36 am
CHRYSALIS
Look out of the darkness, now,
It’ a new day, friend -
Dreams out of the darkness, now,
Into a newborn day, you see,
He wants to get out, somehow -
These prison walls must break,
He wants to get out, somehow -
These dreams must end
Trapped, in a cage, somehow -
There seems no escape from it -
Entombed, in a chrysalis,
when will his day of freedom come?
When will he be free?
He wants to see the free light and the spirit -
And the force that lies within it
Look out of the stasis, now -
It’s a living world, my friend,
Move into new spaces, now -
Safe, in a chrysalis, before
You want to get out, somehow -
These prison walls have got to break,
You want to get out, somehow -
These dreams must end
Trapped, in a cage, somehow -
There seems no escape from it,
Entombed, in a chrysalis,
When will your day of freedom come?
When will you be free?
He wants to see the free light and the spirit -
To see the free light and the spirit -
And the force that lies within it…
14 August, 2009 at 7:40 am
‘The need of the spirit soul is that he wants to get out of the limited sphere of material bondage and fulfill his desire for complete freedom. He wants to get out of the covered walls of the greater universe. He wants to see the free light and the spirit. That complete freedom is achieved when he meets the complete spirit, the Personality of Godhead’
(His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ‘Srimad Bhagavatam’ Canto 1.2.8 purport)
14 August, 2009 at 8:00 am
PROTECTIVE FEELINGS (In loving memory of Evelyn Nance Osborne, 1929-2004)
She closed her eyes,
I was surprised,
She left this morning
She closed her eyes,
I’d really like
to have you near me
She went away,
Where to? Can’t say -
She died this morning
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Hear me calling out.
‘Oh, Lord please hear me’
Everything she ever knew,
Everyone she cared about -
Everything she held as true,
proves false, now, as her time runs out
Our idols crushed -
Ideals, defeated -
In the web of time -
From the web of lies -
Lifetimes repeated
The state of mind
at the time you die,
determines your next life
She closed her eyes,
I was surprised,
She left this morning
I want to cry -
We never die -
Only this body
16 August, 2009 at 3:19 pm
LOVE IN A VOID
Someone
please come,
I’m dumb,
lame and
ill-advised
Someone’s
loved ones
died yesterday -
It was the latest news
Where do they go?
Where do they go?
When they die,
Oh my!
Heaven
was fun -
hell was a drag,
Now I’m back
on earth
Where the prophets pray,
the children play,
in a world of their own
I feel high,
I feel light,
I feel loved -
Love in a void
Bliss suns,
Pink suns,
Bright purple ones…
On a mild red, raptured heart
Where do you go?
Where do you go?
When you go away?
Oh,
Up and down,
around around -
I’m here again
I feel high,
I feel light,
I feel loved
Love in a void
29 August, 2009 at 3:33 pm
PATHFINDER
I was in a dark wood,
feeling misunderstood -
One foot on land,
one foot on water
I was in a bad space,
bereft of divine grace -
Once a believer
who gave Kali no quarter
A believer, a believer, a be-lieve-er
Europe or India,
India or America -
I need a leader
with good credentials
Who’d searched in the crowd,
who’d tried to find you out -
‘You’re a good kid,
I think you got potential’
A believer, a believer, a be-lieve-er
Oh, when will you give me your answer?
I’m hoping,
I’m waiting,
I’m waiting
and hoping
For your answer…
3 September, 2009 at 3:18 pm
SPIRITUAL FIELDS
Lost and found,
underground -
sunflower fields
shine in the sun
Prabhupada lived
in this little hut -
Spiritual Fields
Matchless gifts,
Twenty-six,
Second Avenue,
New York City
He lived in this
little room -
Spiritual Fields
Fields of opportunity,
Fields of self-discovery,
Fields of immortality,
Fields of true recovery
He looks through the grid
at the sunflower fields -
Spiritual Fields
Come and play with us,
Come and stay with us -
Spiritual Fields
Death is the seed
from which we grow
Spiritual Fields
11 September, 2009 at 8:37 am
FORCEFIELD
Yes,
You are lost in this world
Friend,
Time will beat you
in the end
Forcefield
(behind the glass)
Forcefield
(a mirror-mask)
Watching life
before
a forcefield
And you think you are so clever now -
And you think you have it all worked out -
Friend,
you’re so wrong,
detached,
yet dragged along
Watching the world through a forcefield
12 September, 2009 at 12:59 pm
CXXIX
Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action, and till action lust
Is perjur’d murd’rous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoy’d no soone but despised straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so,
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme,
A bliss in proof, and prov’d, a very woe,
Before, a joy propos’d; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows, yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
Uncle Bill
12 September, 2009 at 1:16 pm
RESTORATION OF THE ICON
An eternal affair,
of repeated birth and death;
Of warm delights in nature’s arms,
and no reprieve for the condemned
souls who’ve entered her networks
of desire – vaulted – ushered in -
souls under skin – a blazing cage of fire -
And I’m with you
(And I don’t know what to do)
I guess all good things must end -
here’s to good times spent with you, dear friends;
Of the souls who’ve entered
her networks of desire -
leaving us no choice:
follow the angels or
fry in the fire
And I’m with you
(In our moment of truth)
This body’s a beautiful combination of ugly parts,
Just a beautiful combination of ugly parts -
It was a beautiful conversation,
a – real – work – of – art -
And I don’t know if I can make it – anymore,
No, I don’t no if I can take it – the further I go,
The further I go, the less I know -
The higher I go, so narrow the road…seems
for a soul entangled
in the networks of desire
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,
I’ve learnt my lesson, now,
in a wasteland of regret;
Of the souls who’ve entered
her networks of desire -
enjoyer and enjoyed,
eternal victims of that witch called Maya
Hey, we don’t know what to do
Just a beautiful combination of beau-tiful parts -
The restoration of the icon,
The lost form of God
And what if all these fantasies were real?
What if this suffering was part of the deal?
And the cancer ravages his body – but not his soul,
And the caretakers minister to his body – but not his soul
This is the end my beautiful friend,
This is the end beautiful friend…
The end of our affair
of repeated birth and death…
12 September, 2009 at 1:26 pm
We have been sabotaging our eternal self-interest in this world of temporary forms. Now we must finish our business and get out.
3 October, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I WANT TO LOVE YOU LIKE A LOVER
I want to love You like a lover
loves her paramour
and holds You in her anxious arms
forevermore
I want to love You like a mother
loves her child
and if, one day, You stole the butter,
I’d just smile
A convict,
A convert,
In the world of pain,
the world of hurt,
take me away,
to a better place,
of love, love, love
You have a face
that mirrors could not describe -
Radha and Krishna have sweet forms
that chisels could not divide
I want to love You
like an intimate friend,
and play with You in fields
that never end…
A convict,
A convert,
in the world of pain,
in the world of hurt,
take me away,
to a better place,
a world of love, love, love
3 October, 2009 at 3:36 pm
In Krishna consciousness, it is possible to love God as a friend, parent or lover. Krishna is the perfect lover who can reciprocate with our soul’s innermost desires. Therefore He is called ‘akhila-rasamrta-murti’, ‘the perfect embodiment of all loving relationships’.
28 October, 2009 at 4:03 pm
ASSUME
Assume,
reject,
complain
Comply,
protect,
remain
A push,
a shove,
Wherefore?
Love stranded on the shore
28 October, 2009 at 4:04 pm
In a desert, hardened by age,
surprised if I can do anything at all
31 October, 2009 at 1:24 pm
SECRET
a secret to keep,
like time,
dark and deep -
where do we go?
who really knows?
a deathless dream,
a sleepless sleep -
in birth and death,
O weep and weep!
a sleepless sleep;
in death, awake -
a dreamer without dreams,
with a message, it seems
31 October, 2009 at 1:30 pm
A MODEST PROPOSAL
An eye for an eye,
A tooth for a tooth,
A claw for a fork,
A foot for a hoof,
Some animals were human,
In their past lives -
You are what you eat,
In the future desired
Absolute is sentient,
Thou has proved,
Impersonal calamity,
Thou has moved
An eye for an eye,
A tooth for a tooth,
A modest proposal:
Children for food?
It might be better
If the whole world were blind -
Injurious vision
Of envious eyes
31 October, 2009 at 1:37 pm
The English satirist Johnathan Swift wrote a satirical essay called ‘A Modest Proposal’. In this essay, he proposed a satirical solution to the famine in Ireland – children for food. We are allowing the wholesale slaughter of animals to go on without considering the consequences – to the animals and ourselves. In this way, we are killing our own souls. Hare Krishna.
8 November, 2009 at 3:40 pm
HOPE AGAINST HOPE (Dedicated to Sergeant Sean Sonnenburg AKA Partha-sarathi Das)
There is nothing
but the wind
through the car-window
Nothing, but a sunset
over the City of Gold -
of a car on the road
Nothing
but a soldier,
far-flung, dismissed -
a real father’s son
(And my unfinished rounds…and war stories)
USA for Africa,
but this time
it’s for real
Krishna’s heart appeal