Sparks from the Flame Poems of 1985 by Alan Harris Sparks from the Flame Poems of 1985 by Alan Harris May these sparks be tiny glimpses of a larger, purer Flame. This book is downloadable in Adobe Acrobat PDF format at: www.alharris.com/pdfbooks Poems and Photos Copyright © 2008 by Alan Harris. All rights reserved. Contents (Alphabetically) America the Beautiful Revisited ..................9 Another Sonnet to Another Spring ...............6 Aphorisms from “Poor Al’s Almanack” ....21 Claire de Lune ............................................15 Columbus Day, 1980 ..................................16 Crack the Sky .............................................12 Enlightenment ..............................................2 February Dreams ........................................17 Flower in Vase ..............................................1 Haiku Poems ........................................19-20 Innerness ....................................................13 Juggler ..........................................................7 Making a Tree ............................................11 Night Thoughts ..........................................18 Penetration ...................................................8 Random Thoughts ......................................10 Reality ........................................................14 Seed Thoughts ..........................................3-5 About Alan Harris ......................................22 Flower in Vase This budding daffodil contains To hear His voice and understand, A universe in birth: Then fearlessly obey, Each molecule a galaxy, Is that which mystics, martyrs, saints, Each quark a tiny earth. And wise men call “The Way.” And what we call our universe, Consider every universe All matter, time, and space, And every point in space May be a single atom of As God in God in God in God, A macrocosmic vase. As vase in flower in vase. Thus up and down the scale of size Throughout Infinity, Both “small” and “large” are limitless And join Eternity. Great men have puzzled over God To place Him in their plan, As Primal Cause, or Sourceless Source, Or vast Omniscient Man. But God can never be confined Within a man-made phrase; He hides behind unnumbered veils Impossible to raise. And yet we see His evidence In every time and place— Behind each seed and universe, Within each flower and vase. Inside our inmost soul of souls, If we can meditate, We find a spark of light divine And feel it radiate. While nowhere, and yet everywhere, Our God resides within; Though still and small, His guiding voice Transcends life’s noisy din. Sparks from the Flame - Copyright © 2008 by Alan Harris. All rights reserved. www.alharris.com/poems 1 Enlightenment A vibrating soul Sends up a tentative tentacle And feels the Divine Touch. The trinity of clay, Body and heart and mind, Joins the Trinity of Spirit, Will and Wisdom and Soul, As the one knowing the One. Sparks from the Flame - Copyright © 2008 by Alan Harris. All rights reserved. www.alharris.com/poems 2 Seed Thoughts Part 1: Genesis Seven soft planets bloom on the trellis of space like sunlit roses. Budding daffodil, yellow universe in birth, flows deeply toward light. Forest dawn reveals acres of acorns dormant beneath parent oaks. Virgin mountain bears seven bouquets of roses under Father Sky. Fohat plants a tree of apples laden with seeds to orchard an earth. Breeze of Creation swirls sparks from sleeping embers; monads dance alive. Seven pearls glisten, lucid on a stringless string, linking space with space. Sparks from the Flame - Copyright © 2008 by Alan Harris. All rights reserved. www.alharris.com/poems 3 Part 2: Activity Brooding dove in nest warms empty eggs to fullness, cooing compassion. Honeybees from hives, inhaling sublime nectar, breathe sweet hexagons. Colony of ants, thoughts darting, busy, working— mind in miniature. Moon-struck timber wolves howl their mantras mournfully from far-off mountains. Caged lion pacing, fretful of the iron bars, under silent sun. Midnight crickets sing in synchronous symphony to unknown baton. Spider in moonlight, spinning fragile microcosm, reflects Reflection. Sparks from the Flame - Copyright © 2008 by Alan Harris. All rights reserved. www.alharris.com/poems 4 Part 3: Consummation Orb of eye twinkling with golden glint of grandness— spark becoming star. Pool-reflected Self, diffused by breeze-churned ripples, returns to deep calm. Mountaintop vision reveals a whispering valley where all is in place. Mind relaxing walls, manyness softly merging until one dream dreams. Ark of human souls, riding silent in dark waves, bound for Pralaya. Black night sky, speckled with blazing bonfires of gods, murmurs cosmic OM. Voice of the Silence, throbbing through hushed city night, chanting “Peace, peace, peace....” Sparks from the Flame - Copyright © 2008 by Alan Harris. All rights reserved. www.alharris.com/poems 5 Another Sonnet to Another Spring Young Aries climbs the virgin vernal sky And tickles winter’s seeds until they burst In bright-green chlorophyllous flame, well-nursed By throbs of heat and chill, of wet and dry. Earth breathes her gentle procreative sigh Into a billion billion eggs, her first Prolific breath of love since blizzards cursed In Capricorn and cold clouds choked the sky. When hungry lungs inhale spring’s balmy breath And birds sing out “Rebirth!” from every tree, Our souls trade withered shrouds of icy death For flowing robes of immortality. We read in every birth a crisp new page Of Nature’s Scripture, passed from age to age. Sparks from the Flame - Copyright © 2008 by Alan Harris. All rights reserved. www.alharris.com/poems 6 Juggler The blue-black plate of sky Teeters on a point of zenith Like a juggler’s disc Twirling on a stick. Intrepid owls (2) Interrogate the Intruding moon Until splashjangling Dawn splits Night blue into A billion oranges Molded into a smolder. Up comes the sane sun Wheeling the lunatic Moon on ahead and Tumbles it off the brink Of spinning sky, To be caught by the Juggler and thrown up There perhaps again. Sparks from the Flame - Copyright © 2008 by Alan Harris. All rights reserved. www.alharris.com/poems 7