Beginning the Prayer
I stand facing Mecca the house all around me parallel with everything hands up to my ears the Prayer begins Hands across chest…
Streaks of color in the sky —
can it be the blood of angels?
The sky itself —
can it be the breath of God?
In the underbrush a noise —
a something’s there
cleaning house?
The four or five or more
dimensions —
a ghost’s body
giving birth to life?
We travel to the cardinal points —
then are we anywhere
but at our starting point?
Questions come
and are themselves the answers —
a Cyclops or unicorn
as easily as an ant?
Staring into the air
are we gazing at
God’s aquarium?
Loving each other to the bone —
are we loving any
other than God?
You’re seventy-two Abdal-Hayy
yet you’re still a child —
Still at sea
any closer to the shore?
Or is the sea the answer?
Love comes in a puddle
as well as a pillow —
Do you breathe it in
and exhale its
compassionate zone?
12/11/12 (from Next Life)