An Astrologer's Song
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OLD IRISH PRAYER FOR PROTECTION
I bind unto myself today, The strong name of the Trinity I rise today through the Strength of Heaven Light of Sun Radiance of Moon Splendour of Fire (Mars) Speed of Lightening (Mercury) Swiftness of Wind (Jupiter) Depth of Sea (Venus) Stability of Earth Firmness of Rock (Saturn) I asked if I should pray. But the Brahmin said, "pray for nothing, say Every night in bed, ""I have been a king, I have been a slave, Nor is there anything. Fool, rascal, knave, That I have not been, And yet upon my breast A myriad heads have lain.''' That he might Set at rest A boy's turbulent days Mohini Chatterjee Spoke these, or words like these, I add in commentary, "Old lovers yet may have All that time denied -- Grave is heaped on grave That they be satisfied -- Over the blackened earth The old troops parade, Birth is heaped on Birth That such cannonade May thunder time away, Birth-hour and death-hour meet, Or, as great sages say, Men dance on deathless feet.' ~ Mohini Chatterjee William Butler Yeats ---------------------------------- SWEET DARKNESS ~ David Whyte When your eyes are tired the world is tired also When your vision is gone no part of the world can find you It is time to go into the dark Where the night has eyes to recognise it own There you can be sure you are not beyond love The dark will be your home tonight The night will give you a horizon further than you can see You must learn one thing The world was made to be free in Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of Your aloneness to learn Anything or anyone who does not bring you alive is too small for you. THE TRUE LOVE ~ David Whyte There is a faith in loving fiercely the one who is rightfully yours There is a faith in loving fiercely the life that is rightfully yours There is a faith in loving fiercely the work that is rightfully yours There is a faith in loving fiercely the one who is rightfully yours Especially if you have waited years and Especially if you never believed you could deserve this beckoning hand held out to you this way I'm thinking of faith now I'm thinking of faith now and the testaments of loneliness and What we feel we are worthy of in this world Years ago in the Hebrides I remember an old man Who walked everyday on the grey stones of the shore of baying seals Who would press his hat to his chest in the blustering salt wind and Say his prayer to the turbulent Jesus hidden in the water And I think of the story of the storm and everyone waking and Seeing the distant yet familiar figure far across the water Calling to them And how we are all waiting for that abrupt waking How we are all waiting for that abrupt waking And that calling And that moment we have to say YES Except it will not come so grandly the moment we have to say YES So biblically But more subtly and intimately In the face of the one you know you have to LOVE So that when we finally step out of the boat toward them We find everything holds us And everything sustains our courage And if you wanted to drown you could but you don't Because finally after all the struggle And all those years you don't want to anymore You simply have had enough of drowning And you want to live and you want to love And you will walk across any territory however fluid And however dangerous to take the one hand You know belongs in YOURS. --------- |
