Poems of Narad

The Dawning Image of Divinity

It is in this daily trek of life
That we recall the most unusual things,
Like sea snakes in the South China sea,
A rusty spider on a rusted fence
Or a scorpion sting that felt like broken glass
Run across the flesh a thousand times,
A flashback of the ecstasies of youth,
The painful and the wondrous and the vast,
Prone on the grass, gazing at the clouds,
Or with bared chest riding in a truck,
These memories of first awakening
That moulded us, fashioning our clay.
There was a well that never once went dry,
Icy cold and of a purity
And of a taste no water could compete,
And a magic candy store just up the block
Where mom would send us for a half a pint
Of Dolly Madison 'Butter Pecan'
Or 'Strawberry' and a pack of Kools,
And we would look with wide-eyed wonder
At Sen-Sen, liquorice pipes and pastilles.
The candy counter was a magic world
In the shop owned by American Indians!
And there were moments when you stood in awe
Listening to the Russian choirs sing,
The rise and fall of voices in harmony
That open us to an immensity
Of consciousness, a vision of a world
In pain and sorrow and fleeting moments of joy.
My father sang the sweet and simple songs,
Plucking chords upon an old guitar
Or playing the accordion at night.
And then the day was close we dreamed about,
When snow and silence covered all the world,
A child's expectancy at Christmas eve
When the smell of cream puffs filled the house
And delicacies only a mother could make.
Early Christmas morn and Lionel trains
Beneath a laden tree with fragrant boughs,
Then through the ranks of grade school as we grew
In knowledge and a deepened sense of self,
Aware of beauty and the female form,
A mystery that none could understand
Nor why the heart beat loudly in our breast,
Then college and the boredom of routine
And teachers who put verity to sleep.
But among them a voice or two that woke
The spirit lain at rest through early years
And opened up dimensions beyond mind
And lit within the mind a glowing spark
That nurtured grew into a mighty flame
And set the soul upon its destined course.
Then the moment when the love we felt in dreams
Appeared like a vision in human form
And we were changed, for the eternal spouse
Entered our room of life and shed her grace
And loveliness upon our worshipping soul.
The hour of bliss and oneness had begun.
Then as the years fled by and loved ones passed
Beyond the veil that screens us from the light
And sorrow found a home within our breast,
And time began to heal the inner wounds,
A silence deepened and the mind grew still.
A voice from some deep inner chamber called,
"Look ever forward, leave the past behind,
Seek only That which in your depths now dwells.
Hearken to me, cleave to the path of truth,
Find out thy soul but be not then content,
Till all thy being is a flame and God
Alone is all and all are only He,
Then realize the unity that breathes
Within the atom and the molecule,
Sustains the stars and weaves your dreams in space,
The One, motionless who is the swift,
The indivisible in multitude,
Beyond time, beyond our births and deaths,
Sustainer of our days who has chosen earth
Blessed among the farthest nebulae,
In the evolving tale of man to superman,
Awake and look upon the face of God
In flower, bird, and in your mirror see
The dawning image of divinity".