Phoenix
by Dale J. Sprague
Op. 6 The Ark
Cantos One Cantos Two Cantos Three
Cantos Four
The bounds of the universe are the paradoxes that time'conscious beings see. The borders of the cosmos are but frontiers of being. And given the means to live, I am specifically bounded by inborn limitations..yet, unbounded as to what paradox may live, where spirit and matter engage in mortal combat with each other..I readily fall into its pit of fear and violence until I too, am possessed with some nature of need, changing within, turning inward..life is heightened, the word is broadened, we live the mysteries! Each isolation, an act of creation, the birth of an entity, the fruit of stars. From nighted stars, we feel history drifting and streaming, and from a vast sea of starry images, from its tides to and fro, the boundaries of mind are but primeval beginnings, and the stars beget the Earth from which life inevitably springs
Life, from the inside looking out..I, subconscious eye, living, feeling the life far distant throughout the heavens, feel it everywhere surrounding us, penetrating us..diffusing, permeating. In every direction do journeys of self'light shape space and time into dreams destined to compound themselves into substance..as our own radiation convolutes until it too, says, "I am"
Within this vast sea of space, upon a vessel powered by a radiant star, the living journeys amid galaxies, in constant motion, ebbing and flowing with the tides, we move relatively fast as light, or slow and still as a deep pool of space, feeling the soft swirling white, the deep bluing..the quiet mountain grey..the rusted brown inspires the life'giving green abounding over the land. Over vast seas, the faithful moon chants to the living, and salted waters are persuaded by the stars, the planets, swayed by the moon
We emerged from water to air, spirit unseen, always moving, seeking every crevice, every rock, every height..apparitions of desire in the night move freely over gentle seas. Moved deeply, stately arbors whispering, swaying, life radiates, arms branching, mountain peaks shining..glistened white, radiant life penetrates the cool stillness of ice. Prevailing heat, the sun lingers, the waters gather, dripping, descending, streaming, wandering journey, gathering and regathering, swiftly moving, the Earth gives, the waters are carried. Earth and water forever married
And high above, the waters gather until bursting clouds descend upon barren land. The silent cactus, the prickly skin, swelling, refreshened, alive..sultry heat, we seek the shade, spent waters having gained, stillness penetrates a dust'ridden mind. Darkened clouds, deepening thunder, freely falling into mountain valleys..the floras, the faunas, still lake..chanting memories, prophecies make
The moon is turning, seagulls wandering, arbors grip the Earth and hold fast. The fruit is eaten, the seeds are taken. Cold winter, the Earth has darkened..the leaves have fallen. The trees shedded..leaves to dust, dust to air, moist dark Earth..sweet waters adrift over land so fair. Over hills, over plains, earth'scented spirit into the sky, misty waters wandering high..primordial salt, fragrant sea..enters my blood, my soul, my spirit to be
And from the shoals of sea and spirit of ocean's deep, a small pond is left behind upon a dust'barren desert. An old sage bull kneels by the shallow pond, tasting the waters for the last time. The scavengers patiently wait for his spirit to disappear from his eyes. Cautiously, the scavengers approach the water vapors ascending. Dormant shell, abandoned vessel, spirit akin to the wind. The waters pass from life to the spirit over land and sea, roaming over mountain peaks, across a vast sea to foreign land..into thickening clouds and descending waters, into deep quiet lakes, dark and unseen. The leaves unfold and grow. The hungry diligently consume its green
In the midst of the waters, we are collecting and falling, far distant, and high where the sky touches the stars..nearby, upon the soil, within every crevice, over every roll of hill..to become a part of the rock and feel the deep molten heart of Earth. Turning within itself, rising as mountains high, capturing the waters, suspending them from time until the radiance of a star heightens..the streams swell, the river wanders, the arbors sway to songs of the wind, wandering the Earth, there and back again. And the Earth wanders also, through an ocean of space, for it is the ark..carrying countless ways of life, and the vision, life itself, also upon a journey. Such is the way of life..ceaseless journey, restful sleep
Cantos One Cantos Two Cantos Three