On Twilight's Edge

I cannot recall exactly when, was it a dream
Was I walking on the backstreets of memory
A voice asked me, 'Do you know the difference
Between the light and the dark? '
Echoes led me deep into a cold, dark place
Tortured growls from a wounded mother beast
I stood in awe of the horror to be unleashed
Lost souls shrieked petitions before Heaven
Wolves donned wool of the slaughtered Lamb
Shepherds wandered off into the wilderness
'I thought I could discern the difference'
I cried out, 'I was mistaken! ! '
The voice answered, 'If you truly knew
Neither dark nor light would be necessary
Only twilight's edge remains
Where the night and the day always meet
Returning to here and now, tears in my eyes
Bathing in the glow of twilight's edge
The birds went quiet
For precious moments
Peace from beyond dried my tears
Suddenly I thought I had glimpsed Paradise

© 2005 Roderick Dwayne Gering

A Bird Came Down

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,--
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, splashless, as they swim.

@Emily Dickinson

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.”

Christian D. Larson

High Mountains

The sun peeks out
From behind the high mountains,
Planting little seedling of light.
It crushes the yellow sunshine
Into small pieces,
Making anklets for the mountain tops!

Ankle deep in the wind
Flow perfumes,
The birds fall asleep.
Through a clump of green trees
A water channel flows
Piping a melody!

Seeing the blue lotus
In the mirror- like water
The drooping leaves weep.
The wind has tied
Tiny anklets around its feet,
And stamps her heels as she walks!

Raindrops asleep
On soft, tender shoots,
Are lit by sunbeams.
A tiny, golden bird
Calls to the travelers
With shrill whistles.

In the clear blue sky,
A kite circles,
Among the rays of light.
A flower becomes a drinking station,
As it offers droplets of sweet dew
To the bees.

A butterfly is at the door -
The maulsari spreads its fragrance generously,
Like alms to a mendicant!
In such a season,
In the name of your daughters,
Cover my pain
With a layer of sighs.

An old, tired ache
Plays guessing games,
On the paths of my sight.
A sweet, moody separation
Breaks over me,
And eats into my bones.

Unearth a way that I can
Meet my beloved,
And relieve my longing 

for a glimpse of her.
Bereft of our beloved,
We infatuated ones,
Are called insane.

There is no one here mother,
Whom I can call my own,
Who will share my pain.
At such a time, without my beloved,
I cannot spend a moment

In your town.

The sun peeks out
From behind the high mountains,
Planting little seedling of light.
Crushes the yellow sunshine
Into small pieces
To make anklets for the mountain tops!

@Shiv Kumar Batalvi

SYDNEY

In her grey majesty of ancient stone
She queens it proudly, though the sun's caress
Her piteous cheeks, ravished of bloom, confess,
And her dark eyes his bridegroom glance have know.
Robed in her flowing parks, serene, alone,
She fronts the east; and with the tropic stress
Her smooth brow ripples into weariness;
Yet hers the sea for footstool, and for throne
A continent predestined. Round her trails
The turbid squalor of her streets, and dim
Into the dark heat-haze her domes flow up;
Her long lean fingers, with their grey-old nails,
Giving her thirsty lips to the cool brim
Of the bronze beauty of her harbour's cup.

@Arthur Henry Adams

ALL THROUGH ETERNITY

All through eternity
Beauty unveils His exquisite form
in the solitude of nothingness;
He holds a mirror to His Face
and beholds His own beauty.
he is the knower and the known,
the seer and the seen;
No eye but His own
has ever looked upon this Universe.

His every quality finds an expression:
Eternity becomes the verdant field of Time and Space;
Love, the life-giving garden of this world.
Every branch and leaf and fruit
Reveals an aspect of His perfection-
They cypress give hint of His majesty,
The rose gives tidings of His beauty.

Whenever Beauty looks,
Love is also there;
Whenever beauty shows a rosy cheek
Love lights Her fire from that flame.
When beauty dwells in the dark folds of night
Love comes and finds a heart
entangled in tresses.
Beauty and Love are as body and soul.
Beauty is the mine, Love is the diamond.

They have together
since the beginning of time-
Side by side, step by step.

@Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi

The Bridge

I stood on the bridge at midnight,
As the clocks were striking the hour,
And the moon rose o'er the city,
Behind the dark church-tower.

I saw her bright reflection
In the watrers under me,
Like a golden goblet falling
And sinking into the sea.

And far in the hazy distance
Of that lovely night in June,
The blaze of the gleaming furnace
Gleamed redder than the moon.

Among the long, black rafters
The wavering shadows lay,
And the current that came from the ocean
Seemed to lift and bear them away.

As, sweeping and eddying through them
Rose the belated tide,
And, streaming into the moonlight,
The seaweed floated wide.

And like those waters rushing
Among the wooden piers,
A flood of thoughts came o'er me
That filled my eyes with tears.

How often, oh how often,
In the days that had gone by,
I had stood on that bridge at midnight
And gazed on that wave and sky!

How often oh how often,
I had wished that the ebbing tide
Would bear me away on its bosom
O'er the ocean wild and wide!

For my heart was hot and restless,
And my life was full of care,
And the burden laid upon me
Seemed greater than I could bear.

But now it has fallen from me,
It is buried in the sea;
And only the sorrow of others
Throws its shadow over me.

Yet whenever I cross the river
On its bridge with wooden piers,
Like the odor of brine from the ocean
Comes the thought of other years.

And I think how many thousands
Of care-encumbered men,
Each bearing his burden of sorrow,
Have crossed the bridge since then.

I see the long procession
Still passing to and fro,
The young heart hot and restless,
And the old subdued and slow!

And forever and forever,
As long as the river flows,
As long as the heart has passions,
As long as life has woes;

The moon and its broken reflection
Aand its shadows shall appear,
As the symbol of love in heaven,
And its wavering image here.

@Henry Wadsworth Longfellow