In the heavens,
Light pervades and intervenes.
Mystery is unmasked,
And the night trembles at the feet of the Divine.
Souls that ascend to the heavens
Stand in awe of their majesty and magnificence.
The arts and crafts are beyond human imagination;
The glow and glory surpass what the mind can comprehend.
In the heavens, an ear listens—
Our songs and heartfelt cries ascend.
We await a descent,
Optimistic that our ascent is a sweet sound.
In the silence of the soul, there is an outpouring from the heavens.
A river meanders through the mind,
Treasures, as the sages say, await us there,
For the river flows to reveal these hidden gems.
There is a gathering in the heavens,
And the princes of chaos are dislodged.
May 31, 2025.
That Distant Space
Shadows slide, silent, across the cold church floor
As pallid wraiths form in the fast fading breeze
Where no human wanders that way anymore.
And come to rest by the broken vestry door
To meet in far off realms beyond our short lease
In that abandoned place we walked before.
A new moon rises unseen above the trees,
Grey ghosts return on this night of dark unease
And far from busy life’s bright domains explore
By hidden, shaded paths that no human sees
Where shapeless souls their earthly forms restore
And at All Hallow’s Eve meet in dark rapport
In that distant space where the dead convene,
To speak apart before daylight intervenes.
Barry Stebbings
Oct 2024
How disenchantment marked a pageant
of inky lights drifting upon a skyscape
vast as heaven's trail , my heart
sinking from faded glimmers
traveling at the speed of dying flight--
when I recall one pure moment
How star-beams whisked
into the crystal sky reeling pivoting
away... all those lucent
impressions kept when unusual bands,
awakening my growing sense of faith:
Across velveteen, midnight hours --
this matchless spectacle of a display
changed my view of this universe's breadth...
I remember being blinded by bright of filament--
till my hoarse voice begged, "touch me!"
Dropping on my lap somewhat cured,
I gradually began kindling a passio
for kindness and faith outside my frail self...
I’m the Princess of Procrastination –
Bow down at my feet!
For I’m the best example
Of delaying you could meet.
Go through closets? Get a haircut?
Start to organize my book?
Work on projects that are waiting
For a first or second look?
Days go by and I get lost in
Following my set routines.
If I contemplate diverging,
Somehow something intervenes.
So to you, my loyal subjects,
If your stalling’s got you down,
Glance my way and you’ll feel better,
For I proudly wear the crown.
Similar brains swarm in the direction of leaning.
Truth intervenes, each seeking some meaning.
There's no one set piece or original tune to sing.
Whatever power it gives, this is life's mainspring.
We meet together, hearts and minds intertwined.
Exploring the depths of our souls and minds.
Sharing our stories, our joys, and our pains.
Finding connection and purpose again and again
We attempt to understand the world around us.
To discover our position in it and to believe thus.
That every one of us has a specific task to play.
In developing our collective destiny day by day.
So empower us to continue to emerge together.
In a relationship, affection and mutual endeavor
To grow older and savvier, to share joy, and to cry.
As we navigate through our lives in sync sway.
Written: June 07, 2023
All this introspection
gets too much,
crushing you under
its own gravity, drawing you
inwards. Even the senses are
captive to its cause, the head
a dark, claustrophobic hole.
Then the world miraculously
intervenes with an afternoon,
blowing leaves in circles
about your heavy feet
as if to tickle and bend solemn
lips into a begrudging smile.
Then the unexplainable,
a sense of something escaping,
glancing off the ordinary
into eternity
and almost embarrassingly,
you give a little skip.
Morning Start
From out of the east, the sun rises to greet
Me at a table in a café where I sit
With my laptop open, surfing the internet
While snacking on a sweet cinnamon roll treat,
With a cup of freshly brewed coffee to sip.
And for a brief moment, my time stands still,
And I feel as one with the universe
While reading my emails and wiping my lips.
Then, reality intervenes, and my focus shifts
(After finishing the pastry and java uplift)
To look out the filmy window and deep sigh
That I have to proceed to my workplace high-rise
Filled with people and office equipment
Doing routine tasks associated with business.
Energy zones
Assigned meanings
Take for instance Bindu
Wherefrom bliss nectar flows
And yet on polarity balance
Attributes are replicated
Across all our nodes
Like a hologram
All cells entwined
And yet independent
Pulsate in perfect rhythm
And when bliss chooses to roar
The heightened rapture is resisted
As the instinct for survival intervenes
Unable to readily accept new highs
So offered resistance prevents
Our transmutation as light
Completion put on hold
For the time being
But no matter
Humming bliss
Renewing its purring
Holds us in tight embrace
In a continuum of vibrant stillness
13-December-2022
How never ending is space-time cycle!
and think how long our lives are in it's light?
We happened to meet in eternity
No train to go, clouds to pour rain all night
Chennai is six hundred kilometers
You can't walk up to that in any case.
This waiting room we're in, is a blessing
We can't bring trains willingly to this place
This backward station and we're passengers
Only two; I feel much lonely, and you?
Think, in centuries' continuation
We're here alone for a night, what's the clue?
Now, why are you sitting aside from me?
Are you satisfied with these barren scenes?
Both of us have to return, we're alone!
we are alone, it's raining on intervenes!
I understand whispering of these drops
I love it very much when the lightning strikes
Put your bag down, understand need of time
It's eleven O' clock, what the rest night likes?
28 September 2022
The world starts with two brother lions; Warious and Darious.
Warious nearly expires from excitement; he has lost enthusiasm.
His universe is dissipating rapidly; for he refuses to relinquish control.
Warious insists upon orchestrating every move, thought and sound.
He is exhausted, overwhelmed with the frenzy of tightly-held reigns.
Darious creates earth, earthlings and earth angels in the forms of dogs
They all have freedom of choice – in thoughts, actions and deeds.
Darious occasionally gives a peek, but rarely intervenes.
Unless he receives a multitude of prayers; they get his attention.
Earthlings call him by a variety of names; he is refreshed, enthusiastic and beloved.
His favorite name is God.
Goodbye said in an ICU
No goodbye at the other frontline
A shot to the head
Elsewhere, a shot to revive
Fear destroys.
A doctor intervenes to stop a forever-goodbye
Elsewhere doctor fights to be a survivor
Good bye to a culture
In a dark corridor is the new human endeavour
Goodbye- a language in vernacular
In silence and broken connections
In every conceivable horror
Witness this last wars of warriors
Despairing universe has set the sun on fire.
Journey Journal Page
HAIKU NEW YEAR
Start without
Go on your way;
Journey within
~~~~~~~~~
Ambition aspires
Hurl of heated hurts;
Scourge of rough journey
~~~~~~~~~
Windy winding way
Curious cicada chants;
Aptly anxious art
~~~~~~~~~
Brief tryst
Time comes along;
Laughter echoes
~~~~~~~~~
Olde friends
Gather here now;
Memory intervenes
~~~~~~~~~
Work warm wit
Blush brief bits;
Face fond fit
~~~~~~~~~
Watercolour splash
Cascade of flavours;
Tints and shades contrast
~~~~~~~~~
Olde year retreats
New horizons emerge;
Change escalates
~~~~~~~~~
New dreams
Comfortable old clothes;
Another year retires
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
29/31 December 2020
Singapore
A silver frame, a gold frame,
And snapshots hold him here,
Frozen smile in place (say cheese),
Still, as he almost never was in life.
The beloved timbre of voice, the
Echoes of that exuberant laugh
Inevitably fade, no matter our effort
to keep them from slipping away.
Slowly, as months and years pass,
We knit a comforter of a life
In which we can wrap ourselves
And start a new life – without.
Unsuspecting, one morning,
Someone intervenes with a video,
Remembrances from former times,
Taken by a friend or relative.
He is with us, as if he never left,
Laughing, gesturing, and speaking.
The comforter starts to unravel.
And, once again, we are shattered.
When money intervenes
There is little resistence
When man thinks of money
There is no place for others
Not even God
Whenever man thinks of God
There are too many requests
Money, power, happiness, longivity and many more
But man always
Forgets to reserve a place in the heart
For "Him", the almighty god.
The ageless chessboard at the dawn of time
Once welcomed Life and Death— a round of game,
Life made first move and said in silent mime:
How smart! Ye make my every move so lame.
Death sighed, I still can’t quite seeds of Life tame,
Ye white, me black, we play from times so prime,
We both have grown worthy of our fair name,
And so the game goes on from ancient time.
Destiny, mute witness, smiled a wise smile:
Friends, Nature’s game is too dire to divine,
Two parts of a coin, pawns as if of His guile,
Your job’s to play, enjoy, and fall in line.
Allies on a steering wheel, you’re no foes,
Enjoy and help enjoy the game as goes.
_____________________________________________
Sonnets |03.08.2021|
Poet’s note: The octave, all of four pairs of the same rhyme, indicates that Life and Death play an equal game, no one winning, no one losing, none conceding. In a sestet Destiny intervenes as if to make a truce; the sonnet-ending couplet announcing the last verdict.
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