Posts Tagged ‘love’

4 Trumpets

Thursday, November 24th, 2011

Nightly in your room
You watch for a white star
That whispered long ago
Of an ancient quest.

Yours are young eyes
Which seldom rise,
Eyes that beseech
For some noble thing
Some heroic measure.

On your altar
A portrait of the master
Behind the candle light
Illuminating amid your skirmishes
On the field of concentration.

Children once free
We turned into proud liegemen.
The valiant fight for their country,
Some for duty, others for gold.

Yet who can hear the precept:
“One’s enemies will be
members of one’s household.”

This night the cup is filled.
Your vigil evokes four trumpets
From near and far
Resounding where you are.

Cosmic child
Far from home
Do you remember circling together
Among the moons of Jupiter?

The royal call
White flowers blown
From the dogwood tree,
Angels of your emerging symphony.

It now demands more than before
More than skill and sacrifice
Nay, your very heart.

What shall eternally fulfill
But the adventure set only for you
The all-consuming quest
For Self-Realization.

© 2011 Ron Herman

Night Grace

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

You and I, we are a
Callous troupe.
How long can we sustain
This mode?

The cold night is fast
Approaching.
Will you stay
To see us through?

Words I failed to remember,
Visions I failed to see,
Hands I failed to extend,
Now come gracefully.

© 2010 Ron Herman

Turning Your Way

Sunday, November 8th, 2009
In Franco Zeffirelli’s movie Brother Sun Sister Moon about Saint Francis’ early life, the first song by Donovan is a beautiful accompaniment to the scene where Francis returns desperately ill from feudal battles and prison to his home town of Assisi.

Oh the drums are so mournful my dear oh my love
As my thoughts they are turning your way.
Where are the eyes I beheld with my own
On that long-ago lazy day.

Dead are the deeds on the stark battlefield.
The stench of the flesh sickens me.
I slept soaking wet and the worms ate my bread,
And the mourning of men filled the air.

Oh green are the leaves of the old apple tree,
Those sweet perfumed blossoms of spring.
Entwined in your hair, the smile in your eye,
A soft blade of grass for a ring.

Warm are the loaves that cool on the sill
To the song of the clear trickling stream.
The good clean smell of the rough woven sheets.
The song of the children at play.

Oh the drums are so mournful my dear oh my love
As my thoughts they are turning your way.
Where are the eyes I beheld with my own
On that long-ago lazy day.
On that long-ago lazy day.

Last Breaths

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

You wanted me to drown in conflict,
To resolve the unresolvable
With only a slim chance at success.
So be it;
I give the mind to your madness.

But my hand I keep with your defiant,
The ones who gasp for breath,
Who want to be loved
Even briefly
By what they see
And what they know.

Yes, maybe I let my mind
Linger too long on the hand I held.
Maybe I wanted a few last breaths
before i drown.

Yet, the stormy surface sorrows
To keep us here
In struggle and separateness.

I must go now, dearest friend
To love that is madness,
Your beginning and my end.

© 2009 Ron Herman