warrior, seeker, heart

as the warrior I am

departs chest for head

to defend the heart's honor

in the roiling arena of thought;

as the seeker I am

departs chest for head

to pursue the heart's favorites

in the mirrors of memory & imagination;

forgetting, each time, that the heart

wants only wholeness, & that the heart is only

whole when the warrior is home & at peace,

& when the seeker is home & content;

& forgetting, each time, that each departure

creates the disruption & confusion

manifesting within us as a ga[s]ping

wound & an intoxicating, nauseating insatiability,

& manifesting beyond us as the various horrors

& agonies of an invasive, unpredictable world;

warrior, come home, be peace, surrender your

addictions to fleeing & fighting & valor;

seeker, come home, be content, surrender your

addictions to fleeing & chasing & possession;

there is an oasis we find ourselves in

only after our deepest bravery is spent;

its cool, clear water restores us & reminds us

that our cravingpains are really the heart's

calling out, please, don't go, & that our

h

mesickness is really a whalesong echoing across

o

the dark seas of our being, steadily inviting

our return, & tirelessly showing the way,

its frequency & nearly unbearable intensity

gathering as we near Our beckoning sOurce,

as we return to the pulsing chamber

that we never really leave, it's more like

we're dreaming there all the while, numbly

emptying our spirits into foolish fantasy

to escape the harrowing transformation of staring

into our addiction's tigerlike emerald eyes

so deeply & nakedly we keep losing track

of whose slick eyes we're seeing through