I have seen rivers of fire fall, drop by drop into a black and smouldering sea
I have seen the phantom ships that pass unannounced along windy forgotton shores
I have watched the red rose smile upon her lips turn from ashes to flame in one naked, revealing moment
I have watched as buildings were plundered and skies once blue were blackened by so many stolen sorrows
I have seen winter fields laid bare and soaked in some soldiers precious blood-the red waves like lava flowing from his youthful limbs the final testament of his brilliant and wasted life
I have seen the angels who come and beckon soft winds to those who have failed and the elementals who would see to it that all beings be awoken to their own hidden and molten design
I have seen the torment of the centuries alive in one mans gaze-the flames of his heart burning violet with all that is untamed and unspoken
I have seen hands outreached-begging, offering, dying, in prayer
and the million armies that march to the beat of some scorched metallic drum-flat, timid, spiked with fear
I have seen the one I love vanish into the mists of his own creation-a ghost to some past dream or fortune or vanity- a ghost to his own self-made apparition of what he was SUPPOSED to be
I have seen legions of the darkest of souls as they dance and scurry their way onto the scene, unannounced and uninvited, privy to every wanton lust and desire at play in the streets of the cities, at play in the fortresses of gold and of steel
I have seen the wings of Icarus as they touched the sun and melted deep into the sea...

The flames grow higher
Dear god they burn
As so many flee the scene for want of an easier outing into this strange and oft misunderstood episode called life
While escape has no meaning
While fires they burn in rings sure and steady and fierce
So that not one soul
Not one being
Shall depart unscathed,
Unscathed and resurrected by the sheer heat of the reckoning at hand.

Her heart was wrenched
It told of ancient spells and heartache upon heartache upon heartache-lifetimes passed in useless toil, loss, loneliness
Her chest was squeezed cold and barren-there in her heart where something profound had died-
Her joy-
Her joy,
Her joy!
Wrapped and trapped and spun up inside veil upon web upon dank and desperate veil-the joy she had once lived without fear-lost inside some story, some spell, some strange language altogether removed from her own true soul

Tears so tired, so wound, so needed came down, first in small torrents, then in floods, as her heart unraveled that most ancient spell of bittersweet sorrow

And there, beyond the layers of corrosion and fear, there lay her heart,
Gentle and fragrant as a pink rose at dawn
In her flesh, temple upon temple, city upon city, pyramids of pure gold arose
The Kingdoms of the Stars and The Fairies alive within her bones
The queen of light beckoned
while beautiful stranger appeared with a message crafted out of the pure light of love
And deep, deep, deep inside-imagine this! A star! A Supernova! A pale blue light brighter than the eye could possibly see!
Her very own heart a star as vast and as bright as unhurried and sure, as vibrant and full of cool, steady heat as any and all the lights in all the worlds combined!

At last a safe shore to call home
At last a quiet place within to believe and to touch
At last a field upon which to live entirely untouched by thought or time, memory or curse
At last the remembrance of what it means to truly shine!
Shine your light on the world! Shine your light for all the universes to see!
The Holy Land Of the Heart-
The Arc of the Covenant-
The ceaselessly burning blue sphere of the souls ceaseless emergence-
Light of Lights! Song of Songs! Heart awakened once more!

Hallelujah!

Carefully she unwraps the gift
as she hears the call of creation
quietly and surely emerge from her breast-
Soft torrents of light and shadow
Pink stardust backlit by a gentle smile.
Once upon a time,
she'd been given over
to the indelicate dreams of a world gone awry
yet now something inside
as quiet and old and real as the turn of the day arises within
and she is born of mountains sighs
and she is held inside shells of pearl and dusk
and she is lit up inside by forces she herself can barely name
and she is rocked gently upon the memory of cloud and sky
Hers is a spell of rapture,
a quiet song of pure knowing
the irises unveiling unto the day....

The Skies Reach down and bend to Our Ears
Reminding Us to Listen to the Chimes of Dawn Arriving
All that was ever Clear and Just and Holy will Awaken
In the Course of these coming days
And the spell of disenchantment will come undone
The Skies will grow Resplendant in Rays of Colors Undescribable
The Days shall Call out in so many Hallowed Tongues and Enraptured Songs of Return
The Clouds will part and Reveal Star upon Star upon Star-
Countless and Incandescently Shining in their Glory
And In the Mirror of the Skies,
We will Know that We are the Chosen Ones,
The Ones of Might and of Annunciation
Heralders of the New Dawn Arising in
Untold Brilliance Strung with Golden Harp Strings
and Diamond Sharp Rains
Blue Skies Dancing
and Emergent Sighs of Release and of Ageless Wonder

Last weekend, I traveled to the highest height I have ever been and to the lowest depth I have ever been, profound experiences the both.

Friday evening, after a week of process and pain, upheaval and enlightenment, I scaled, with the company of five friends and the help of a 4 wheel drive Cherokee Jeep, the top of Mauna Loa. Not only is Mauna Loa is the largest volcano in the world, it is also the highest from base to summit. Its gentle slope and shield-like shape belie the greatness of this edifice.

Here's an excerpt from a website I just downloaded that descibes the make-up of the mountain how, when all is said and done, it is 56,000 feet from top to bottom!!!! This I stood upon:

The heights of mountains are generally given by their elevation above a datum, such as sea level. The highest point on Mauna Loa is 4,170 m (13,680 ft) above sea level. But the flanks of Mauna Loa continue another 5,000 m (16,400 ft) below sea level to the sea floor. The massive central portion of the volcano has depressed the sea floor another 8,000 m (26,000 ft) in the shape of an inverted cone, reflecting the profile of the volcano above it. Thus, the total relief of Mauna Loa, from its true base to its summit, is about 17,170 m (56,000 ft).

Wow!!!

We arrived at the 13,680 foot summit just as the last glowing drops of the sun fell gracefully behind the miles and miles of clouds that lay before the horizon. The scene the sun left behind where earth meets heaven was a brilliant ban of Carnelian Orange glow, fading into gold then green then the most brilliant clear shining indigo blue sky I have ever seen. So vivid, so clear, standing there inside a dome of pure principle, God's carefully crafted light. The temperature was probably a good 30 degrees, a signifigant drop from the consistent 80 degrees I have become accustomed to at my home 12000 feet below. We were all shivering but so very alive, lighter stanced, each step softer than the ones we are used to on lower ground. I do believe we were all a bit giddy from the lack of oxygen!!! The terrain all around us was all sloping, red tinted black lava rock, creating an atmosphere akin to what you would experince say, on Mars. And to add to this otherwordly quality, dotted about this barren landscape are multiple silver domes that house the most advanced telescopes on the planet. You know all those majestic images of galaxies, constellations, nebulas and stars being born? It is from this mountain many of them are discovered and documented.
We danced a little, we ran a little, we shivered alot and watched in awe as the sky sang into its night glory and Venus appeared so bright. Then we headed on down to the observatory at 9000 feet where we drank hot cocoa and gazed through telescopes at Saturn and the moons of Jupiter as they peered out from behind their planetary consort.

Sunday:

On Sunday my friend Ron and I went to a famous snorkelling locale in south Kona called Two Steps (thus named for the convenient ledges of lava rock that guide all snorkellers in the sea) I practiced again my free diving and found a whole new level of freedom and meditation in the practice. I made it as far down as 25 feet this time, my deepest depth yet! There was one dive where I took some kind of quantum leap, not only in my diving, but in my consciousness, a true moment of "Zen" where all thought, fear, tension, or concern dropped away and my vision became all seeing and I felt nothing but a calm and spacious peace. Hard to describe but it felt truly interdimensional. It was this dive I went down the furthest. Upon coming to the surface, my friend Ron was in awe and saw how something fundamental had shifted in my approach/experience. Its as though something in me that has been asleep is being awoken again in the waters, some primal remebrance that we once belonged to the sea and knew no bounds. Epic!

We were later met by a new friend Matisha www.songofhome.com, who is some kind of wondrous magician under the sea. The image attached is an example of the "art" he creates under the suface. Gorgeous rings like magical glowing irridescent hula hoops emerge from his mouth, one after the other, creating a scene unlike anything I have ever seen. Blue blue blue all around touched by the grace of these silvery opalesecent rings. We would dive under them and through them, like circus animals in some ethereal dream and dance about as gracefully as the dolphins themselves in that ocean clear like crystal water, warm and thick like our very own blood. We also swam through bubbles created by scuba divers that acted like the bubbles in a champagne glass, only they were 30 feet long and 5 feet wide. They feel so good as they tickle your skin and dance about your every move.

So from the heighest heights to the deepest depths, I found something of stillness, something of grace, something of eternity, not to mention some serious chills and a mild sunburn. Another weekend in Paradise......