Reach Out Through the Layers

 

Reach out across the chasm that divides us,

a spasm of retreat at the layers of anger,

the prayers of frustration, bitterness,

knots of neuroses we must face,

peeling them off, healing, gathering

courage to confront the fear we see reflected

in each other’s eyes, collected through

eons, the terror of our shells, of ourselves,

like the Dance of the Seven Veils now performed.

 

Unadorned, gaze at the different faces rising,

disguising, past lives maybe, amazing,

or facades we create to metamorphosise and

merge with the outer world. Here emerge

the other charades, some beautiful, some

horrifying, full of dread and loss and denial. 

Slipping on then off, seemingly endless,

personas tried, discarded,  retarded, died.

Let them clear. Let the next terrifying layer come.

 

See the skins slowly dissolve and muscles

come into view, sinew tight and tense with

misery of illusion and with fighting the world.

Distorted in the big lies told, controlled,

contorted in believing them, aborted for their uselessness. They shrivel, slide apart down

the face with gruesome smiling, confusion in

choosing meaningless expressions, false

impressions, depressions. The next layer please.

 

And here shows the skull, hard core, marrow

filled, sorrow, chilled to the bone, a false grin,

lifeless and sneering, the acid of truth melting

the cranium, the leer of death,  the fear of it,

keep clear of it, push through to the life behind,

the mind opening to the eternal truths, we knew them as youths. The end and a new beginning.

The next layer now.

 

The worst and the best one, bursting through,

space and light, night and bright, all

encompassed in a surge of knowingness,

contraction to a pinpoint, expansion into a

universe of love, the true glue that holds the

cosmos together, and there are the stars,

a blanket at our feet,a dancing canopy

of music above, swirling in our cells.

 

There are no more layers, we have reached

the source, the force  of life, united. It all gels,

our souls swell, filled with space, we are

welcomed into grace, all is emptiness

sparkling with light, our spirits in flight,

we see reality, creative energy, infinite with possibilities, crowded with wonders, unending, boundless love, hearts flying towards each

other and finally merging.

 

We had doubt, we tried to block it out,

but we had the courage to reach out.

From my book ' Messages are Dancing in the Rain'

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