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The Love Unspoken | Poem

THE LOVE UNSPOKEN

 
In the kingdom of the sea

I am Malcuth,

The rolling waves would free me,

From the homage sands ‘round my feet.

 

Yesod is my foundation too,

My habits are those of fish,

Sea eagle, herring,

And I would know the power of the Mind,

That forms nets to encircle me,

Or seines to enslave my brains.

 

Hod is the ruler in my stead,

When e’er I quit the throne to reach my heart

To Netzach I would fly,

To feel my wet wings of salt!

To yearn and cry aloud to stars above,

Or planets ‘round my surging eyes,

I would touch the astral dust,

That clings to my confusions.

 

Tiphareth is the Sun that guides me on,

Would reach under my skin and set my heart blazing!

White is the mind that burns to light the way of Truth

Or the promise of my mercied self!

 

Let Chesed, then, have rule of me and by no Law,

Pretend to weigh the scales that Justice makes,

When ’er it hangs the balance on my soul;

Geburah only tries to do what Chesed has always done so well,

By Da’ath I am brought, at last, to the Abyss;

Across it lies the love I yearn, or does it yearn in me!

What hands do reach to clasp,

Would grasp what heart and squeeze?

 

      The poet stalks the shore,

      Lies down in the tall green grass,

      To hear the cold and wavy waters bubbling by!

 

I too lay down and dream,

Of that long ago Kingdom of the Sea!

No more! No more would I be Malcuth,

Though Malcuth is always in me!

Heavenly Mother!

My heart does knock to hear the understanding of the bird!

Nest me then! Worm to feed me! Heavy hang me in the brown

Branches of the Green Tree!

 

Binah! Know my sorrows!

Give form to all that cries in me!

Let me see my own tears, to feel them,

To hold them in the palms of my heart –

Precious tears – mournful victory of a kind –

O how my spirit clings to all that coils the tree – Life force!

 

      The white moon rose, white and round it rose;
 
      And cast its sorrow light on me and paled all my dreams;
 
      I was the memory all round,

      So hooted the owl in me.

 

Binah understood and scented me with love,

These incenses came not from me,

But from o'er the great Abyss!

My soul leaped to breathe so deep, so wide,

For love had flooded me with light!

 

      The sun rose, soft and slow it rose,

      And caused the day to break the night,

      O moon! And all the marriages of light:

            How the country is:

                 Green wooded hills rising all around,

                 Blue lakes in between,

                 Whatever encircles is...

      The bee that rushes by would brush my soul,

      Would paint wild blossoms there: hyacinth,

      And suckley pear, or the narcissus of summer!

 

Oh Heavenly Father! Thou art Wisdom!

In Chokmah there is peace and half the crown of love!

Take me over,

In your brawny arms encircle me and hold me there,

In Day's soft light,

Bring me over,

Put me on the path of love,

In wisdom let me grow,

And tell a story!

 

      "Once upon a time...! Yea,

In the Abyss all is taken from me that is not pure,

Then which be truest?

I cannot see it all: Malcuth was I when I was of the sea,

Great cities ringed my shores,

Thought I was always more than these,

But now I am a man,

Now the man of the Abyss!

 

      "What passes over cannot pass between,
      What passes between cannot pass over.
      Whatever lies ahead can be found furthest behind!
      Whatever lies behind cannot be found ahead!"

 

KETHER!!!

The Sound Is,

THE WORD.

 

Of Wisdom, I knew not at all,

Nor of any Understanding,

Which to choose?

Geburah or Chesed?

Truly what was sought upon my soul?

Was it to be Justice or Mercy?

These grow out of Consciousness,

The Sun that lights the mind and feelings;

Thoughts may lead to Power,

But Feelings bring us to Glory!

And the abyss takes All,

But one!

 

To be that One is to know and feel the Eye in the Crown,

Forever watching that single path of Love!

One path of Love,

From out of the Kingdom of the Sea,

Leads us on,

To many paths of love,

All of these paths leading, finally,

To the Abyss!

 

Love has direction,

But it must also have form!

At last I knew the way,

I felt it coursing in,

My spirit dropped all else away,

Into that Great Abyss!

 

No true death was this,

For nothing died that day,

Yet I stood naked,

Even free of the bones and flesh of me;

My spirit knew the way,

For Heavenly Father had spoken well,

Had reached out his hand for mine,

But of the Form I knew not,

I could not Know,

But towards this spirit fled!

My body waited,

It lay frozen in its sleep,

The dreams it sang could not be told,

Nor could vision fashion enough,

Of what my spirit saw:

 

      It walked the path of Love,

      It saw the way from Chokmah’s Wisdom,

      To Binah’s Understanding,

      It was there,

      At the feet of Heavenly Mother,

      That Chokmah’s Wisdom now found Form.

      It was in the sweet embrace of Spirit to Spirit,

      That Love acquired its form:

 

              It was a tree;

              A cloud passing over;

              A lake of burnished sunlight;

              A mountain swirled with mist;

              It was a mountain lion;

              A woman with her child;

              It was a happy hobo;

              Singing by the road:

              It was a golden flower;

              It was a cabin in some woods,

              A poet with his pen;

 

  It was the story told,

  It had a happy end,

  It was the earth all colored,

  With blue, and brown, and green!

  It was the peace of many trees,

  All being blown together,

  It was the wind in the wilderness,

  The raindrops on the skin,

  It was the flash of lightening,

  It was the dins of thunder!

  It was hail, bickering leaves,

  And wet grass under fresh sunshine,

  It was all of these and more!


My spirit walked the path of Love,

It saw the way from Binah’s Understanding

Took Heavenly Mother's forms,

And trodding went by starlight path,

To pause,

To praise the Great Abyss!

 It wore a crown,

 The Spirit's own,

 Then turning ‘round,

 It trod up one more trail,

 To KETHER it had to go!


KETHER!!

 

Returning,

It traveled over

The Abyss cared not at all,

For love was in the making,

Would not be transgressed!

 
  Awakened now I could return,

  To earth's own joy.

  It was a Paradise of Sorrows’

  It was a Palace of Pain;

  It was all cheer triumphant,

  In the Kingdom of the Sea!

 
    I sat for a long, long time,

    A boulder by the sea,

    I saw two birds flying over,

    They were Mercy and Glory;

    Their spangled wings flapped up and down,

    They skimmed the clouds and water,

    My eyes rose to follow them,

    My own heart rose as well;

    For one brief human moment,

    I was the spirit of the sea,

    I was the love,

    Unspoken.

- Michael Warren Eliseuson