Stephen is a web developer, Bahá'í, and interfaith activist in St. Paul, Minnesota. He likes to write about religion, social justice, sustainability, science, programming, &c.

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poetry, prose, and other strings of words · 1993 - 2003

Lotus

Number 131

November 17, 1997

Surfacing I breath at last,
As if for the first time,
Chill air pierces my lungs;

For a moment all is gone,
Amnesiac, blessed forgetfulness
Of independent thoughts skewed;

But the air grows
Warm deep in my chest
And memory returns to me;

The horrors we have faced,
The fears we have conquered…
The greatest of challenges ahead;

Concentration thickens, flowing
Rivers wash away all else,
'Til the object is lost;

And forgetting the self,
The self returns,
Haggard—worn—unbeaten;

Resonance.

The frequency of life
Is my heartbeat,
Pulsing amplitudes joined;

Periphery is enjoined,
And subtleties lay open
To the Homeric soul;

The universe is held
In the vast emptiness
Within me…

Understanding unexplainably,
Undeniably—subliminally—
Comes to me in darkness;

Quietly shrouded, She
Softly removes the
Veil from life's mystery—

And beneath… a web,
Interlocking fibers of being,
Stark masses of matter;

And no more.

Dizzy, she leaves me,
But leaves something of
Herself behind in me;

Life is my dream,
In daylight I dream—
But I awaken in sleep;

One day we
Will all awaken…