Kyrie to a Buddha in Paradise

Have mercy on me, Lord, in your bright place
And bend your will towards me
Which arches in the universe
And vaults the heavens
Full of stars, full of worlds

As I center my mind upon you
And conceive of your heart
In which I am consumed,
Swept up utterly in flame,

For you are as the sun to me by day
And the moon by night,
Without you there is no vision,
Nor any fruitful harvest;

The years are barren and the dreams fleshless,
For your love is as the breath of life,
And without you I am unborn.

Copyright © Charlotte Appleton 2003

Funeral Elegy for Baron Peter Gemmingen Von Massenbach

In principio verbum erat ...
John, vs.1, Vulgate.

Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, Bodhi, svaha!
Heart Sutra. (Buddhist Scriptures).

And on the waxing light he died, and dawning
The sky rained down its tears, and yawning
We rose to meet the day, and we still sleeping,
He woke to meet his God, and the sun rising.

Whilst we were ignorant and loving and believing,
He waited by the breathless gates of life and grieving,
Waited upon farewell. For he is gone, and leaving,
Bids us work out our own salvation and arising.

For he was in this world but never of it,
A rock for others' faith, a gift to give it,
And whilst, distracted, many wished to have it,
He found the courage and the strength to live it.

So therefore do not weep, for what is finished
Is made more perfect for the dream that vanished,
For what is real is whole, and beyond seeing
Fullfills all full conditions of pure Being.

The Void is with us, and the days of mourning,
This vigil in the transience of our seeming;
In twilight's vessel of the long forgetting
He sails the gulf beyond all our begetting.

For we are those who suffer, who are lightened
By one less voice amongst us, now enlightened
By an immediate light, the tongue of flaming
The Word of words, the Name beyond all naming.

He was a star who now is all-delighting,
An over-seer who now is understanding,
Humble mortality now all-enduring,
Compassionate and now the all-including.

So let us learn from one so full of learning
That this is not world's end, but just its turning,
An end and a beginning, a new morning,
And on the waxing light he died, and dawning.

Copyright © Charlotte Appleton 2003

Zen

I am not what I was, but something more
For years of solitude and broken wishes,
The Middle Way is difficult but sure,
Though I deserve at least a thousand lashes

I'll not be broken yet, the balance tips
Ever so slowly into level weights,
I'm learning equanimity each day
With falls and slips, to bridle loves and hates,

To ride the bullock, make him do my will,
And not his own, that snorting animal
Who chases tail rather than plough or till
The fertile soil, to harvest beautiful

And profitable times, all well and good,
Sufficient shelter, company, and food,
A place to call my own, a fair profession
And love returned, much more than a confession.

Copyright © Charlotte Appleton 2003

Dawn

This is reason's season
And for love also,

Let us light a candle,
Let us turn the dark
That was into the day
Of our communion,

There were many flames
That wavered and went out,
Voices on the wind,
Autumn leaves,

But our sun is rising
Over these stone crags,
The humble nightingales
Have just finished singing;

Let us make a new song,
One that reverberates
Even in silence.

Copyright © Charlotte Appleton 2003