The Key and the Lock

Pain

Is a question

Asked by the jailer

As he jangles his keys.

Will you allow your heart to open

Lest the lock grow

Hard from rust?

Set yourself free.

Break out of this self-created prison

and LIVE

While you still remember how.

The Snowflake

Stick out your tongue

And taste the snowflake.

If a mere grain of snow

Can grant you the taste of perfection,

What of the Universe?
There is a lesson in this

For those who know.

The Mirror

I gazed within,

But all I saw

Was a dull, dusty mirror,

Rusted and tear-streaked.

When will the Polisher

Answer my prayers

And clean the mirror

Until I see my Self?

The Gift of Clarity

Even with a thousand words,

You cannot buy clarity.

Only the coming of the Friend

Can bestow this wondrous gift.

Keep your heart's door open,

Ready for his arrival.

The Door

The Friend

Knocks upon your door.

Why do you stand aloof?
Why does your hand tremble

On the doorknob?

Open it;

Or better yet:

Realize that there is no door.



The Prison of Unknowing

Mixed with your tears,

This eggshell around you

Has hardened into concrete.

When will you flee

This prison of unknowing?
Your true birth awaits

Like a patient dog

Outside his master's door.

Work

Your work

Furthers your becoming.

Lean, therefore,

Into the task at hand.

With every drop of sweat,

A lotus flower blooms.

Casting Out the Chill

That Sun burns brightest

Which must be sought within.

Dive inside yourself,

Deeper,

Deeper,

Until you have arrived.

There, your own Sun warms you,

Casting out the chill of separation.

Demons

When your demons chase you,

Chomping at your heels,

Hug them closely

To your heart.

In time, these snarling phantoms

Will be meek as lambs.

Sun That Leaves No Shadow

Within us

Blazes a shimmering Sun

That leaves no shadow.

Seek to know it.

Travel within to commune with it.

When you do,

It will smile radiantly

And welcome you home.



The Feast

Fear

Is merely a sign

That a feast is at hand.

Lean into your fear

And take a juicy bite.

Savor it.

No intermission will mar

This feast.

No unwelcome interloper

Will crash the party uninvited.

Leave the weeping

To the brave.

For you,

Sustenance comes in many forms.

A Pauper's Fee

Though You are inexhaustible,

My heart subsists

On a pauper's fee.

Why do my hands

Reach so timorously,

So feebly,

For You?



Serene Exaltation

"There stole over me that mood of serene exaltation in which everything seems good and rapturous, the world and its human beings; that mood in which one has an urge to embrace every tree and stroke its bark as though it were the flesh of a loved one; in which one longs to enter every house, to sit down by the side of its unknown occupants and unburden oneself to them; in which one's own breast is filled to bursting point, and one's emotions are too much for one, in which one would like to open one's heart, to give lavishly of oneself--to spend and squander some of the superabundance of one's happiness."

--Stefan Zweig, Beware of Pity

The Melancholy Sojourner

Your heart is a shelter,

Ever ready to put up

Weary guests.

Even the melancholy sojourner

Will ask for rest.

Let him stay,

And when he is ready,

Let him leave

With words of blessing.

Plunge

When all around you cries

And crumbles,

Plunge within and beyond

Your Self.

There,

Beyond the chaos and tumult

And eddying whirlpools of memory,

lies clarity,

Radiant and unabashed.

Embrace it with all your heart,

And the Universe

Will embrace you.



The Guest

If you are in such a hurry to die,

Why does the same blue sky

Still shelter you?
But wait,

Tarry a while.

Keep the doors of your

Heart open,

Its interior pristine

For when the Guest finally arrives,

Weary from the journey.

That same Guest

Carries the key

To unbind your chains

And move you to tears

Once again.