Lake Mann
“And God called the firmament Heaven”
-- Genesis 1:8
Waters of darkness
Become cold at the bottom,
Away from the sun,
But I have connection
To a power above the water,
Now saying, “Rise over with me!”
Swirling, gushing foam
Surges to bring my downfall, but
Balanced against velocity,
I have risen in my skis!
The Churn
The forms and the creatures have a purpose.
God said, I was a Hidden Treasure,
and I desired to be known.
Manifestation contains that Desire
to be known. Like a deep truth
inside a lie, like the taste of butter
in buttermilk, that's how Spirit
is held in form.
For a long time butter stays
invisibly present in the churn mixture.
Then a Prophet comes with a dasher, or it might be
just someone who has heard the words of a saint
and is connected to that one as an infant is
when it hears its mother. The baby doesn't understand
language, but it knows the voice-sound,
and gradually learns what the talking means.
We're all born dumb. Only God
did not have to be taught to speak,
though Adam learned without a nurse or a mother,
and Jesus came articulate into the world. But most of us
need a lot of attention, much shaking by the Sheikh,
much turning and paddling. Slowly the butter
emerges. Don't throw away buttermilk too soon!
Wait. Keep churning!
Do that work, and you'll begin to hear inside
the maundering drunktalk of drunkards
the Presence of the Winemaker, the Host
who served this wine to us.
