The Sunday Poem on Heart of Balance

THEMES OF A LOST LIGHT-BRINGER

1

First, there is the forgetting; The un-

folding of the fracturing. Forgett-

ing what love really is; forgetting of

the joy and bliss; forgetting of the precious

pulse. What is this forgetting that

covers all the land? Is it The Snow

Queen come to curse us with Heart’s Ice?

2

Then, there is betrayal, that ebb

and flow of choice. Go this way or go that

way? Follow the green and hairy man:

(A strangely seductive gardener?) Tunnel

or the rockface? Path or winding

stream? That faint sound of ethereal hymns,

murmuring of wind and broken wings?

3

The clotted market with its rising din?

Choices in the moment; choices

that return on wings of vengeance, loss,

and oozing wounds upon the morning’s rise.

A hideous monster has been spawned, upon

your soul’s dugs suckling; drawing you in

to circles new, and other shapes unknown,

4

Dis-membered, dis-connected. Then…

Discovery! Cup breaks, shakes, shivers

and cracks! Re-named. Plucked in a crawling instant!

A new gestalt of lurching gracelessness.

Graceless out of Plato’s piss-washed cave

you lurch, and blink, a reptile on a stage.

Re-membering that thing a shadow makes.

5

You only have one cloak to wear today;

Let it be a cloak of ash, to wrap-

around the newly suffering skin-

tatooed with grief that cannot be revealed.

Begone then! And return when you are healed!

(The good folk cannot stand your endless tears.)

You follow the less-travelled track.

6

Re-member/ Re-gain/ Re-turn! But all the other

fools have gone and it’s too late! Poor,

lost child. So here you are; a single fool,

so brightless and despairing. This

cracked mirror affronts our eyes! We do

not like its shape or size! We think it weaves

a weird disguise. We think it tells us lies!

7

Spinning in that flaring light, the web

that holds us all; a match-strike sparks out in

the night- Forgive! Forgive it all! It is

the way of alchemy, the journey of

the hero. The Soul’s truth and the wisdom

road: Feels like a transformation!

So…fall then on your sword each day.

8

Be carried home upon your shield.

Children’s tears shall wash your wounds

And the harsh Gods will wonder.

The blood will cry out of your caves.

The good folk will wonder:

Some will say, forget, others

say, re-member. ‘Lost

Light-bringer!’ they’ll say: ‘Re-member!’