Travel Life

Take one of my tears

Throw it in the ocean

And watch the salt in the wounds
Of this earth and men begin to disappear.

Take one of my tears
And cradle it in your palm.
Mount a great white camel
And carry my love into every desert,
Paying homage to every Prophet
Who has ever walked in our world.

O take one of my tears
And stop weeping only for sadness,

For there is so much More to this life
Than you now understand.

Take one of my tears
And become like the Happy One,
O like the Happy One –
Who now lives Forever
Within me.

When a drop from my Emerald Sea
Touches your soul’s mouth,
It will dissolve everything but your Joy
And an Eternal Wonder.

Then,
The Beloved will gladly hire you
As His minstrel

To go traveling about this world,
Letting everyone upon this earth

Hear
The Beautiful Names of God
Resound in a thousand chords!

He himself is singing tonight
In Resplendent Glory,

For the cup in my heart
Has revealed the Beloved’s Face,
And I have His oath in writing

That He will never again depart.

Take one of your tears,
For you are weeping like a golden candle-

Throw one tear into the Ocean of your own verse

And let the wounds
Of every lover of God who kneels in prayer
And comes close to your words
Begin, right now,
To disappear.

Give me the cup!

a voice rings in mine ears

Crying: 

Bear Patiently the bitter years! 

For all thine ills,

I send thee heavenly grace,

God the Creator

mirrored in thy face

Thine eyes shall see, 

God’s image in the glass

I send to thee. 

Mountainous ocean, a moon hidden behind clouds,
The terror of being drawn under.

How can someone with a light shoulder-pack
Walking the beach know how a night sea-journey is?

Stay in the dangerous life that’s yours.
THERE you’ll meet the face
That dissolves fear.

Oh flower,
Is it your proud nature
That keeps you aloof
From the bird dancing around you?

It is the beauty of one’s nature
That nets the seekers.
Ropes and cages never trap
The wary bird.

While you keep the company of the enlightened
And quaff the mystic wine,
Forget not those, who sail upon the heavens
As birds glide upon the wind.

Of all the treasures that the earth can boast,

A brimming cup of wine I prize the most –

This is enough for me.

From monkish cell and lying garb released

Oh heart of mine,

Where is the Tavern fane,

the Tavern priest,

Where is the wine? 

If without the house of devotion I stand,

I am not the first to throw wide the door;

My Father opened it long before,

The eternal Paradise slipped from his hand,

All you that misconstrue my words’ intent,

I lie on the bricks of the tavern floor,

And a brick shall serve me for argument. 

What drunkenness is this

that brings me hope –

Who was the Cup-bearer,

and whence the wine?

That minstrel singing 

with full voice divine,

What lay was his?

for ‘mid the woven rope

Of song, he brought word 

from my Friend to me 

Set to his melody.

Last night I dreamed

that angels stood without

The tavern door,

and knocked in vain, 

and wept

They took the clay of Adam,

and, methought,

Moulded a cup therewith

while all men slept

Oh dwellers in the halls of Chastity!

You brought Love’s passionate red wine to me,

Down to the dust I am,

your bright feet stept.

A FLOWER-TINTED cheek, the flowery close
Of the fair earth, these are enough for me
Enough that in the meadow wanes and grows
The shadow of a graceful cypress-tree.
I am no lover of hypocrisy;
Of all the treasures that the earth can boast,
A brimming cup of wine I prize the most–
This is enough for me!

There ain’t no answer.
There ain’t gonna be any answer.
There never has been an answer.
That’s the answer.

(Gertrude Stein)