Do not seek
For gentleness it comes
As gentle as the moon
Floats
Through the day
As gentle as these white
Flowers on my palm
Flickering
In a sunless
Rain-near
Breeze
* * * * *
One night a poem found me
Placing everything
Where it belongs. Gently
Revealed the LIVING TRUTH
Veiled by the common self’s
talking.
It came upon me singing, flowering
From the flow, not built up
By strain. Inner sunlight
Melting the glacier of my effort. Grace
Everything is
ALIVE!
Imprisonment is a conviction.
This poem prevents comparison.
It found me walking by the river.
An autumn evening after the rain.
Everything
A humming, burning stillness.
It kicked out all sentimentalism; dumbness
Replaced the drumming brain.SHOCKED
I almost froze. We ARE
And all IS.
Leaves on your shoes
Falling on cars…
The freezing SHOCK…where we are
Is not a passing through;
But where we ARE
Is where we pass to.
That corner which you pass by,
That familiar crossroad holds the sky
Of infinity
Which you must drown in.Stand still there
as cars pass by,
And SEE, before you see
The willow-latticed-sky;
But isn’t this the moment
Which you fear…
Your crumpled heart
Unfolding in your heart?
Neil Oram
from: Children of Albion
First Published by Penguin Books