Be Lost in the Call


Lord, said David, since you do not need us,
why did you create these two worlds?


Reality replied: O prisoner of time,
I was a secret treasure of kindness and generosity,
and I wished this treasure to be known,
so I created a mirror: its shining face, the heart;
its darkened back, the world;
The back would please you if you've never seen the face.

Has anyone ever produced a mirror out of mud and straw?
Yet clean away the mud and straw,
and a mirror might be revealed.


Until the juice ferments a while in the cask,
it isn't wine. If you wish your heart to be bright,
you must do a little work.


My King addressed the soul of my flesh:
You return just as you left.
Where are the traces of my gifts?


We know that alchemy transforms copper into gold.
This Sun doesn't want a crown or robe from God's grace.
He is a hat to a hundred bald men,
a covering for ten who were naked.


Jesus sat humbly on the back of an ass, my child!
How could a zephyr ride an ass?
Spirit, find your way, in seeking lowness like a stream.
Reason, tread the path of selflessness into eternity.


Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
Let the caller and the called disappear;
be lost in the Call.



-

"Love is a Stranger", Kabir Helminski
Threshold Books, 1993