Eureka!

by Hank Edson

~ Suddenly unaware, absent changes in my countenance
As I am given distance, the gift, the void between planets
And something so large, at once so far, so close
The moons of my thought glowing in their orbits
For size far beyond my experience
Am I functioning, am I breathing, am I here?
I have been removed and yet I have become
The center focus and have joined
The solution, suddenly I have been taken
Away by its tide, hydrogen and oxygen, my life and time
A combination, a clarity possessing me,
A fluid creation, suddenly ~ thus in the miracle of my fever
I am as running blood
My eyes drained of color set free contain the vision
As my heart contains the temperature
Animated by nature’s seasons
The thoughts that I used to know going through changes
For out of the earth through the months moving
There is the sap burning inside, a harvest vine
Trailing from fire like the echo of thunder
Rolling over summer slowly fortifying
Nourishing and never tasting the secret self of the sky
Unaware of the charged expressions floating
Until the demonstration of such feelings
Strikes me with lightning and a silence pure and momentary
Amidst the brightest unbelievable flash.
Then, as in the beginning, the explosions of awakening
          consciousness;
Rivers flowing, nature growing, and the unfolding,
          resounding wilderness~

What I Be

by Michael Franti

If I could be the sun
I'd radiate like Africa
And smile upon the world
Intergalactic love laughter
And if I were the rains, I'd wash away the whole world's pain
And bring the gift of cool like ice cream trucks on sunny days
And if I was the earth I'd be like mountains bountiful
And if I were the sky so high, I'd be like wind invincible
And if I could be a seed, I would give birth to redwood trees
And if I were the trees, I'd generate the freshest air to breathe

And what I be, is what I be
What I be, is what I be
well, well, well, movin on!
well, well, well, movin on!
Do you love someone? Do you love somebody?
Love that one!

If I could be the leaves, then like jade I would stay evergreen
And spread my limbs out wide and pull love so close to me 
And if I could the roots, I would dig deep like ancestry
And if were the fruits, you'd make the sweetest cherry pie from me
And if I could be the night, my moon replace all electric lights
And magic music would transmit from outer space on satellites
And if I myself could be the ocean, you would feel emotion all the time 
And if I were the words, then everything that everybody said would rhyme

And what I be, is what I be
What I be, is what I be
well, well, well, movin on!
well, well, well, movin on!
Do you love someone? Do you love somebody?
Love that one!

If I could be sex my words would protect
I'd be in the lives of all who connect
What the heck, I'd make it so we all got selected
Pores would be dripping pure hot intellect
And the minds of the masses would all stay erect
And then just for kicks, I'd mail out some checks
Addressed to those who said they used latex
And, yes, that's what I would if I were sex
If I could be you, you could be me
I could be you, you could be me
I could walk a mile in your shoes.....
And you could walk a mile in my bare feet

And what I be, is what I be
What I be, is what I be
well, well, well, movin on!
well, well, well, movin on!
Do you love someone? Do you love somebody?
Love that one!

from
  The Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq
  (Interpreter of Desires)

by Ibn ‘Arabi

XI

O doves that haunt the arák and bán trees, have pity!  Do
                not double my woes by your lamentation!
Have pity!  Do not reveal, by wailing and weeping, my hidden
                desires and my secret sorrows!
I respond to her, at eve and morn, with the plaintive cry of a
                longing man and the moan of an impassioned lover.
The spirits faced on another in the thicket of ghadá trees[i]
                and bent their branches towards me, and it
                annihilated me;
And they brought me diverse sorts of tormenting desire and
                passion and untried affliction.
Who will give me sure promise of Jam‘[ii] and al-Muhassab
               [iii] of Miná?  Who of Dhát al-Athl?[iv]  Who of
                Na‘mán?[v]
They encompass my heart moment after moment, for the
                sake of love and anguish, and kiss my pillars,
Even as the best of mankind encompassed the Ka‘ba,[vi]
                which the evidence of Reason proclaims to be
                imperfect,
And kissed stones therein, although he was a prophet.  And
                what is the rank of the Temple in comparison with
                the dignity of Man?
How often did they vow and swear that they would not
                change, but one dyed with henna does not keep
                oaths.
And one of the most wonderful things is a veiled gazelle,
                who points with red finger-tip and winks with
                eyelids.
A gazelle whose pasture is between the breast-bones and the
                bowels.  O marvel!  A garden amidst fires!
My heart has become capable of every form: it is a pasture
                for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
And a temple for idols and the pilgrim’s Ka‘ba and the
                tables of the Tora and the book of the Koran.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love’s camels
                take, that is my religion and my faith.
We have a pattern in Bishr, the lover of Hind and her sister,
                and in Qays and Lubná and in Mayya and Ghaylán.
               [vii]

[i] In the thicket of ghada trees is a reference to the fires of love.  The branches represent flames.

[ii] ‘Jam‘ reprensents union with the loved one.

[iii] al-Muhassab is the place where the lover casts out the thoughts prevent him from attaining the object of his desire.

[iv] Dhat al-Athl refers to the lover’s becoming the essence of the beloved and thereby losing his own identity.

[v] Na‘man is the place of Divine and holy bliss

[vi] Ka‘ba is the house of God in Medina built by Abraham and the destination of Muslim pilgrims.

[vii] Examples of famous lovers.

Figurines
 

By Hank Edson

Here I am again,
            how strange to awaken
For the first time
            to the beautiful face
And to feel my limbs
            enlocked by this woman,
Our arms like handles
            on a china vase,
Which we form and fire
            within our embrace,
Two separate beings
            fusing the moment,
Red brushed on our cheeks
            and the smooth white glaze
Of two bare bodies,
            a resting instrument ~

Expressionless and set
            fixed in our place
After our passion,
            shining and silent,
The fragility of life
            through which we race
Having yielded our love
            and not broken,
We lie, holding on,
            making ourselves a space
For the muses to fill,
            and then we listen ~

I’m Lucky

By Joan Armatrading

I'm lucky
I'm lucky
I can walk under ladders
Yes I'm so lucky
That I'm as lucky
As me

Struck it rich
Dirty rich
No work
And get richer
And the world
Loves a winner
Yes I'm so happy
That you're happy
With me

You are happy too
Ain't you baby

Numero uno
Living for
Right now
And it's
L-I-V-I-N-G
When I'm here
With you

I'm lucky
I'm lucky
I don't need a bracelet
No salt
For my shoulder
I don't own a rabbit
No clover
No heather
No cross
No wonder
I'm lucky