Long Wherefrom Poems
Long Wherefrom Poems. Below are the most popular long Wherefrom by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Wherefrom poems by poem length and keyword.
As the gatekeeper of both time and space,
surfing the bardo that lies in between
aether and form, wherefrom radiates grace,
existence reveals its throbbing bliss sheen.
Singular Self has an urge to create
a domain where ascent follows descent,
that by piercing the veil, soul shapes its fate,
requiring simply, to grant love consent.
This choiceless choice to ingrain deep learning,
that emerging from the cocoon of bliss,
soul may ascend by willingly burning,
it opts to plunge into a dark abyss.
The stage is set for the soul to forget,
that love may grow, placing on love a bet.
That love may grow, placing on love a bet,
appears on first glance, there’s nothing to do
but memory erased, caught in fear’s net,
the soul finds it difficult to break through.
Mistaken that it’s merely body-mind,
soul’s awareness becomes externalised
and bemused by illusions, it is blind
and thus truth of Self is not realised.
Having itself set life into motion,
joy of union, pangs of separation,
silence alone ends thought flow commotion,
invoking Spirit for bliss gyration.
In timeless time, the bliss energised form,
swathed in gentle currents, both cool and warm.
Swathed in gentle currents, both cool and warm,
earth life interface, the ego, recedes,
transmuted finally by this love storm,
whereupon it follows and bliss throb leads.
Cessation by kenosis is the way,
softening attention, with touch gentle,
ego cravings no longer holding sway,
that soul effusing love transcendental.
Love being the pure divine elixir,
all opposites dissolve within its womb,
causing nodes within feeble form to stir,
bringing to life thus, a bliss catacomb.
Ego takes a backseat, heart is upbeat,
light dawns when polarities meet and greet.
Light dawns when polarities meet and greet,
melding in the cauldron of agape love,
wherein heeding love’s pure endearing tweet,
head and heart conjoin, acting hand in glove.
On soul seeing that it is living light,
it begins to employ mind of the heart,
feeling bliss pulsations by day and night,
deeming all souls as one and none apart.
Separation ends when egoic will bends
and all beings on earth, with love entwine,
each soul as God’s essence, slowly ascends,
all gathering under the oneness sign.
Self knows that there are no puzzles to lace,
as the gatekeeper of both time and space.
Put away childish things
yet keep the childlike wonder.
Though dreams be rent asunder
our wishes still have wings.
Put away childish speech
but not the constant queries
that question rooted theories
which reason cannot reach.
Put away childish ken,
though artless ways of seeing
in any age of being
will find a poet’s pen.
Put away childish thought
yet not imagination
which sparks our inspiration
beyond what we are taught.
Put away childish things
but follow deepest desires.
Those secret innermost fires
burn brighter as hope sings.
Put away childish whim
yet not delight in playing,
then when the world’s dismaying,
our days won’t seem so grim.
Put away childish fears.
Nonetheless, through thick and thin
hang on to the child within,
the laughter and the tears,
all the livelong years…
Put away childish things.
While our dusty death is nigh,
the utter self shall not die,
and karmic kismet clings.
Put away childish things,
though then in mirror darkly
we face our image starkly,
plus suffer destined slings.
Put away childish pain
yet not sensations tender
for sunset’s golden splendor
or soothing thrum of rain,
therein the simple joys remain…
Nor questing spirit ever lose,
while on the pathway that we choose,
neither from love refrain
which makes a heaven of earth’s domain.
Still, throughout, with faith unshaken,
seek enlightenment to waken,
thus the bliss supreme to gain,
plus not to live and die in vain…
Put away childish things
but hold to yearning youthful
to grasp the learning truthful
which timeless wisdom brings.
Put away childish things,
and embrace the peerless state
of illumined grace innate
wherefrom great fortune springs!
~ Harley White
* * * * * * * * *
The following well-known quotation provided the initial literary inspiration for the poem…
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face to face.”
1 Corinthians 13 ~ The New King James Version (NKJV) translation of the Bible
Further inspiration derived from the teachings and writings of Nichiren Daishonin, as well as Martin Bradley’s interpretative writings about them…
Here are some questions, dear poets on Poetry Soup. As we look in within, we may find answers we have been looking for, beyond narrow conditioning and dogmatic beliefs. There can be more than one ‘right answer’ and of course, we can always silently choose the invisible fifth option ‘none of the above’. Be that as it may, it suffices that we’re peeping into our soul.
Ramana had queried ‘Who am I?’
a) we are this body identity
b) we are the thoughts streaming through us
c) we are a subset of a race or religious order
d) we are eternal living light, encased in five sheaths
What is the noumena wherefrom arises phenomena?
a) an unknown God said to be omnipresent
b) the word, as said in John 1.1
c) the cosmic egg, Hirayangarbha
d) there are no ‘others’; we are in a lucid dream
Given that God is omnipresent, He must be within. Where is He hiding?
a) in the cave of our heart as love
b) within the region of head as awareness
c) at our navel, radiating power
d) as our breath, heartbeat and magnetism enabling life
What does God look like?
a) Jesus. He must be Jesus only and no other
b) The holy trinity representing love, wisdom and power
c) Space and time entwined ~ the eternal witness
d) Soft white, all pervading living light
What lies beyond death?
a) the heavens we have been told about
b) nothing. We are extinguished.
c) the astral and casual realms
d) there is no death. Body dies, we, as soul, live on
What is Turiya, the fourth state?
a) we know only of waking, dreaming and deep sleep
b) it is the unchanging screen of awareness
c) a singularity defying delineation
d) silence and stillness ~ eye of the hurricane
What is the Kundalini or Chi or Holy Spirit?
a) there is no such thing
b) it is the Divine Mother, kinetic aspect of God’s energy
c) don’t ask please. This question offends my beliefs
d) the three terms of the question are not interchangeable
If all be one, why does everything seem dualistic?
a) dance of polarities in the womb of existence
b) veil of maya
c) creation of thought
d) well, it is dual. We are each a separate entity.
Hope you enjoyed!
27-January-2023
The Multiple Choice Poem Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Suzanne Delaney
Peace is though difficult
Yet not impossible to uphold,
All the kings of the states
Must remain self-concerned,
Without poking noses
Into the affairs of others,
Curbing cupidity
To expand the territories,
Subjugate the nations of the world,
Enforce the so-called personal visions,
And put the humanity
Into new-fangled trials.
All the weapons
Latest, conventional or primitive,
Precious or utterly worthless,
Nuclear or less potential
Made of common explosives,
Be spoiled,
Be thrown into the deep waters
Of the unexplored seas,
Wherefrom no devilish character
Could ransack them back.
When some is killed
Neither Hindu, nor Muslim,
Neither Christian nor Jew is killed,
But a man: a child of Adam and Eve,
The same red substance
Pours out of his injured ragged body,
And it pains me.
All the weapon producing units,
And the blood spattering gadgets:
The tanks and cannons,
Mortars or machines guns,
The armadas
With the squadrons of fighter-jets,
Submarines that navigate
Secretly chase the nautical targets,
Catapults and all the missiles launching frames,
Be thrown into furnaces
To be remodelled and redesigned
Into of the earth moving machinery,
Instead of the appliances
Colouring the Earth red.
All the medals or symbols
Of chivalry be taken back,
Combatants and men
With the crowned shoulders,
And medalled chests,
Who often move in the battle-fields
Puffed with the martial pride,
Imparting, rendering
No service to humanity
Be employed to plough the lands,
Plant the gardens,
Make the dams and reservoirs of water,
Feed the cattle and get them milked on time,
Engaged them
To perform some rewarding assignments.
Upon the earth,
There must not be a single
Blood-claiming weapon;
If men are incensed
And fight is unavoidable,
They must fight with knives and rapiers,
Swords and shields made of gossamer,
All the time heeding
Lest they should break;
And all inhabitants of the world
At least once a day must trim their nails,
Lest when they are indignant
And resentful should scratch
The skin of fellow beings or their own.
Form:
look not outwards, oh hermit!
for I Am within, judging neither fault nor merit!
you can do no wrong!
come! let us sing the love song!
*************************
As one with oneness
Never ever separated
Pulsating with joy
In unending renewal
Climax unending
Bliss ineffable
In rapturous singularity
We are complete
With God one
Nothing to be done
Samadhi
In continuity
God wishing that we
Become as He
Immerses us in duality
To face adversity
By being veiled
Which is the same
As shrouded in darkness
Cloaked by limitation
Of time, space & wisdom
Doing so with this assurance
That He will be with us within
As our conscience
The sublime radiance of God
Shines in beauteous hues of love
Prismatically coloured
As bubbling joy
Impetuous empathy
All encompassing compassion
Bliss ignition in continuity
Encased in the vibrant void
Of pristine purity
All holographically present
In all sentient beings
As His essence
It is easy to see
That nothing need be done
For we are already
With God one
Yet since we are bound
Required to strive
To garner experience
Feel pain of separation
Before delighting in union
Love in love with love
Pining for itself
We are granted free will
Free will a boon
Soon becomes bane
Since freedom to choose
As co-creator of life
What is our excuse
If engaging in strife
Having forgotten our origin
We seek expansion
In the narrow domain
Of ego cravings
Holistic view, no judgment
Delusion is but misalignment
The void of silence
Which is our home
Wherefrom we arose
We go in there
After exhausting ourselves
In the external world
Of fleeting illusions
Dark fears
Unending desires
Thus in stillness
We reclaim our divinity
Felt as blissful serenity
The way to begin
Is to cease grasping
Quit stagnating
Desist from attachment
By simply flowing
In gentleness
Listening to the voice
Of our conscience
Which is God Himself
Waiting within
For us
To awake
~~~~~~
The quietus
Without hiatus
touch most intimate
ignition immediate
in stillness sedate
04-December-2020
we are here
why would we negate
so we do accept this reality
taking our stuporous aliveness
within decaying organic form
as the point of reference
with which we begin
Ramana’s inquiry
who am I
looking back at our life
we notice our values shift
also as in moment to moment
there is fickleness in our response
to life as it unfolds all around us
but the screen of awareness
upon which images dance
always remains constant
what is this screen
which remains flicker-free
through waking, dreaming and sleep
wherefrom we always emerge unscathed
even though we lose our awareness
which is clearly quite stuporous
even when we’re awake
though ego opines
otherwise
this motionless screen
which is the eternal witness
recording our life without judging
let us then choose to meld presence with it
becoming still in thought rested silence
simply watching the ebb and flow
of thoughts and emotions
within body-mind
time flows on
but we are resolute
playing the waiting game
seeking nothing simply looking
fulcrum of our awareness centreless
thus doing nothing we connect
with universal consciousness
imbibing direct knowing
that transcends mind
befriending silence
we begin to live internally
as a presence ensouling form
thereby also becoming nonchalant
immune from the vagaries of fickle fate
whereupon our emptiness is filled
with divine magnetism surreal
which bestows on us bliss
and light of our being
what’s there to say
we all are this living light
which is veiled by thought forms
spawned by imaginary ego identity
which it is quite clear we are not
but mankind is afraid to let go
of dreams we believe real
we hear Plato laughing
allegory of the cave
the truth is known
but we all fear
to accept
how long will we
trauma bond with ego
a mere bubble of illusion
that confines us in delusion
is the question we each must ask
the eternal presence within
seeking our embrace
within the cave
of our heart
O Doubt, thou hast given me so much joy,
That doubting has been my second nature,
Besides my life’s heaven-sent bliss and buoy,
Doubtless never goes even my prayer.
Had I clues to all questions that arose,
I’d have died under its heavy burden
O to have gone captive to self-made woes,
A slave with choice, joy of freedom nor fun.
Come Doubt-Revolt and let me face the truth
As an uncommon adventure of life,
Where’s joy in set answers of school-age youth?
With thirst let me carve truth, give me thy knife.
Had I followed set rules, curbed my rare itch,
Ne’er to set out in search of the unknown,
Imagine where in this world I’d have reached,
Wiped out erelong, from the face of earth gone.
You, Doubt, think, explore to experiment,
There’s thirst in thee to search as to resolve,
A strange joy thy inane predicament,
Certainty thy death, farther to evolve.
If Beethoven had not doubted Mozart,
Picasso had not Michael Angelo,
Einstein had not taken Newton apart…
Only he that knows not so, doubts not so.
Human wisdom began but with doubting,
From doubt came questions, wherefrom turned in truth,
True faith’s not in accepting everything,
Yet, we oft no more ask questions post youth!
O keep alive that doubting mind-- mother
Of all progress. Doubt, thy pain’s too lonely
To know that faith has been thy twin brother,
Sang Gibran, as can bards like him only.
Fair that many look wiser in their doubt
Than in their cast-in-stone, pre-set belief,
Indulge in doubt, forget thy awkward spout,
A doubt indulged in holds a potential brief.
Belief is it that goes out to divide
Us, as religions have through life of men,
You Doubt help us unite. A doubt denied
Comes by windows, should men all the doors man.
So, remember O man, in the kingdom
Of knowledge, doubt be the spring of wisdom,
And never once this Gibran’s wisdom flout:
Never on speaking terms were Love and Doubt.
________________________
Ode|25.01.2025|delight, doubt
As a child, I had scribbled trifles on sea sands,
And often allowed them to get wiped by wave's hands;
Mansions and palaces on the sand I had built too,
When they got destroyed by waters I felt no woe.
This mania soon got altered to writing names,
Of persons accompanied playing many games;
The sand mansions too slowly shifted to sculptures,
And seemed in style and structure so voluptuous.
Thus with many scribbling and sculptures, times rolled on,
I got someone who looked like a girl-sculpture-swan;
We, together now, scribbled and sculptured pure love,
That as though would envy the celestials above...
The sea waves witnessed our wavy ways and wondered,
The weather too often changed its mood and thundered;
When our wedding bells aside sea happened to peal,
The sea and her creatures seemed brim filling with zeal...
The sea, then, our delightful honeymoon witnessed,
The shapes and moods of sculptures with feelings got mixed;
Sands and shells turned beds cozily decorated,
Moon and stars the ambiance illuminated...
The buds of love blossomed and on due time bore fruits,
We came to the shores now bringing our naughty kids;
They scribbled, made sculptures in magnificent styles,
We built castles within while enjoying their smiles.
Amidst tangles of routines shores now forgotten,
Our children married and their kids now begotten;
We, one in heart, hand in hand, memories Cudding,
Cherubims of happiness within us wedding...
She too is gone now I like a seagull forlorn,
Taking shelter aside the shore and within mourn;
Cherishing all good and bad memories of old,
Scribble and build sculptures keeping my heart still bold.
I see this sea and shore as paths of transcendence,
Wherefrom my spirit will sore to the resplendence;
Where the splendor of God showers on me his grace,
Where my eyes will see realities face to face.
28 July 2021
this form is dust yet moves as though it’s alive
propelled by God’s breath, divine spark in our heart
too subtle to find so it’s useless to strive
unless we’re still causing ego to depart
and melding head with heart, flame of love revive
prayer on our lips being the way to start
with resolve and patience finding soul’s essence
living light eternal, our pure quintessence
having known now who we are nothing is gained
since whether we know or not, we are the Self
but having garnered wisdom, soul is unchained
and no fears or desires remain on our shelf
our childlike heart again pristine and unstained
trusting God fully as life flows by itself
poised in peace at all times in heart’s play station
viewing life’s a dreamlike manifestation
as a dweller of the void, beyond space-time,
one with God in a singularity field
bereft of attributes, no peaks left to climb
infinite is the power we therein wield
yet free from desire, we’re engrossed in love’s chime
acting spontaneously, needing no shield
self-existent in the splendour of our light
with time dissolved peace replacing bliss delight
Self is consciousness labels cannot define
being that wherefrom the universe arose
yet in pulse dual too found when we align
head and heart with love, the fragrance of a rose
causing nodes in form with bliss beats to align
accomplished whilst we yet remain in repose
wherein all we need to do is vaporise
that thus in doing so, God we realise
deeper yet within, truth of Self we pursue
recognising consciousness that’s absolute
a bright darkness from which nothing can break through
beyond all realms and music of Krishna’s flute
tightly packed energy known to sages few
yet we are That for it is our very root
one without a second, nothing else exists
known when we abandon ego’s to-do lists
Slayer of Mahishasura, the buffalo demon,
Durga resembles Greek mythical spirit Eudaemon;
Symbol of motherhood, strength, safety, destruction and wars,
Amalgamation of goddesses and their divine source...!
Myths hold she miraculously emerged from Ganges Holy,
Culmination of powers of all gods wrapped her wholly;
She rides on lion exhibiting limitless power,
As Kali, in blood of wrong-doers she takes her shower...!
=====
===
As Durga Pooja is solemnized her auspicious day,
Prayers and offerings accompany her statues of clay;
Like waves of seas within temples devotees assemble,
Earth and heaven witnessing this scene within them tremble...!
Invoking her - Bodhon - is the grand initiation,
As Goddess of goddesses follows her coronation;
She's bathed, beautified, adorned as a bride of highest norms,
Graced with nine pastoral leaves symbolizing her nine forms...!
Offerings of flowers and hymns like ceaseless winds follow,
Adoration-chimes echo around each hilly hallow;
An immaculate girl, in the form of goddess, is graced,
As though her very incarnation near her she is placed...!
One hundred and eight lamps are lit when the goddess rises,
Frenzy musicians play maladies of surprises;
On ninth day, men and women with blazing charcoal pots, dance,
Holding them on head or hand or by teeth go into trance...!
Wearing vermillion on forehead wedded women surround,
Bid farewell to the goddess while aloud their quenches sound;
Taken in ceremonious procession, she's immersed,
Into Ganges, wherefrom her existence, got nursed...!
(Though there’s little of poesy in it, I have written this in order to give general information to the Poetry Soup Friends about one of the important autumn-time religious festivals of India)
01 October 2022