Song of the Banquet

Posted on by
Reply

Just had a really inspiring couple of days. On Saturday I helped out at the Blessing at Lancaster Gate and in the evening attended another heart warming Holy Day celebration family evening at the South London Peace Embassy. There was a really nice atmosphere in LG you could see that the couples (all but one were reconfirming their marriage) had deep experiences. In South London it was a more spontaneous event than our God’s Day celebration but there was some really nice performances. One guest was very inspired by the spirit in the room when we sang our final song together Song Of the Banquet. It really did express the spirit of the day. I think the words of that song are really poetic.

On Friday I manage to finish a poem that turns out to be my 21st poem that I think good enough to ‘publish’. Only taken me 22 years to get that far — almost one a year! Hope you like it.

Journey to the Cosmic Source

March 2012

My mind dances on my fingers
My heart aches in the palm of my hand
My breathing trembles with my spirit
My ears surrounding every sound

My eyes folding in the dark
My arms bigger than my world
Time stops its endless chatter
While love is planted in the soil

Half and half it makes the whole
With the title deeds exchanged
Possessing God from that position
Temples of his lineage

Perfume of the flowers bloom
Drawn in deeply to inspire
Beneath the covers of the moment
The gentle flames of selfless fire

With the conscious bay receding
Eternal stars to set the course
Divine wind provides the motive
To journey to the cosmic source

Batter My Heart

Posted on by
3

Last week at the event in Frankfurt I was reminded of the difficulty of connecting to God in prayer. Sometimes it takes a lot of hard work and preparation. It was not until the last moment of the prayer at the end of the liberation session that my heart started to open.. and then the session ended. It made me think of this poem by John Dunne.

This is an amazing poem but not easy to read even if English is your first language but please give it a go.

I first came across the poem in Bulgaria. My brother introduced me to someone that was studying English and a very large book of poetry was on the desk. This was the first one I saw when I opened the book. On coming back to London I mentioned to George Roberston that I had found this great poem by John Donne and he said “Is it Batter My Heart Three Personed God”. I went to the library and found a book of John Donne poems and (you guessed it) the book fell open at this page.

HOLY SONNETS
XIV

Batter my heart, three-person’d God; for you
As yet but knock; breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp’d town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth’d unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Loving Words – part two

Posted on by
Reply

Of course it is not easy to reach the level of love I wrote about in the part one. If you are like me prayer is often a bit more difficult that that. Does not happen often but I just completed a poem that expresses that.

Loving Words

Heavenly Father
I whisper these words
Behind locked doors
Behind the lost souls
Of empty moments
And lay them neatly in a row
Bereft of potency
Yet teasing out sparks
Or threads of…
Feelings
Feelings of love,
Loss,
Longing
Memories of closer times
When joy and heartbreak danced
When laughter healed
When time stood still

My son
I take your words
Your scarce words
And drink them in
I treasure them
I search their meaning
And divine the path they took
I plant them as seedlings
I remember every one
For you are each
My only child

My will is set for closer times
When hearts see and minds feel
And silence
Is merely
The contentment
Of loving words
That float unspoken on the breeze

Loving Words

Posted on by
5

Henceforth, only art will remain. People who cannot write love poems are failures.

Cheon Seong Gyeong p636

Oh dear! Strong words — if you have not written a love poem you had better make a start. But why does Father say that? In another speech Father explains why:

When you send a vibration of love, it sounds throughout the cosmos, particularly in spirit world. Love is the atmosphere you breathe in that realm. You know that you are the centre and creator of that vibration; that the angels will dance around and sing with you when you are creating music. A certain feeling accompanies your creativity because the entire universe vibrates together.

When you think with that consciousness then even God will respond, feeling that you are writing poetry for Him, that you are singing about the universe He created for His children. That’s why when I pray it is like a poem many times. Many times my topic of prayer is praise for what God created, talking first about one thing and then another. I know that God is smiling when He listens, knowing that I appreciate what He created. Sometimes I give an eloquent speech in prayer to God as my audience.

The Contrast Between Secular People And Us
December 23, 1979

We often think that something symbolic is less than real but symbolism should be attached to and driven by what is inside. Love is the is atmosphere of the spirit world and it is the core of our being. All that we do is an expression or a symbol of what is going on inside us.

Truly loving words come out as poetry so much so that Heavenly Father needs poetry.

Since You have called upon us today, please alleviate through us the bitterness You have felt because no one has recited poetry for You. Please consult with us about Your internal situation, which You have not been able to share with anyone. Raise us to become people who can connect with all people and with Heaven. Father, this is our sincere wish.

March 8, 1958

The foundation for that level of love is in the family:

What kind of couple are the ideal husband and wife we speak about in the Unification Church? They are a married couple who can turn the highest art into reality. They are a couple who can turn the highest literature into reality.

Before we come into contact with the highest level of art in the world, the highest and sweetest love shared by the husband and wife has to be the best work of art in the world. It has to be the best work of literature and the real body of literature.

Cheon Seong Gyeong p489

This is why Father says that if you cannot write love poetry you are a failure. You have to have love that is the highest level of art in the world. Initially it does not matter if you write bad poetry but you should be bursting to share your deep experiences of love.

Why ‘Reserved’?

Posted on by
2

I have often been tempted to blog but two things have always stopped me. One is not wanting to start something and then fizzle out in the same way that keeping a diary always does (for me that is). The second is I am a bit cautious at letting others know what I am thinking — I am rather reserved sometimes.

Back in 1981 I had a small collection of poems (it still is a small collection but it is a bit bigger now) that I carried around in a folder. At that time I was reading a book of poetry by Walt Whitman called Leaves of Grass. It was a book he had developed over all his life that he just kept adding to — I thought this was a good idea and wanted a name for my collection of poems. I was sat in the kitchen of the New Yorker hotel and on the table was a piece of cardboard that was a reserved sign for reserving a table in the dining room. It struck me that that the word had two meanings. The first is in the sentence “this is reserved for you” and the second can be found in “I am rather reserved”. I stuck the card on the front of my folder of poems hoping that it would give these feelings to others. I am rather reserved and cautious with people but there are a few things that I think you would like that I am keeping just for you.

So I have called my blog Reserved too. I would like to include some of my poems in the blog as well so just to start things off here is one I wrote back in 1982.

For Chizuko

Do you feel as I?
The sparkle in your eyes tells me so
You face aglow lets me know so much your inner heart
Your lips part
But no words
For a smile says more
That love is what our lives are for.