sweet – THIS HAPPENED

when i look at my earlier life, it is as if i can see
a broken mirror that has been pieced together & glued upon
a firm surface. this, my earthly identity, is the broken
mirror, flawed, fragmented & in pieces. You, Shiva, are the firm
surface that holds all the broken pieces together, steadily
present in the background of awareness as i do my duties.

here in this maya of jagat, in the midst of all the shattered
& fractured illusions & dreams, You are that companion who holds
firm to dharma for the well-being of us all. You help to make
the vision clear before us, that we may see ourselves endlessly
held together & bound through divine compassion & bold wisdom.
the patterns made by the cracks in the mirror are but a needed
part of the story. everything has a story to tell, like the
wrinkles on an elderly face or the scars upon a body.

oh my Beloved, You upon Whom my earthly life depends, Who
reveal my true identity to me: Your name is on my lips.
ah Shiva, my Shiva! the sweetness of Your name melts upon my
tongue like warm honey & fills the heart with bliss. You are my very
ground of being, my oxygen & water, & i say Your name
as tonic for the healing of us all: OM NAMAH SHIVAYA!
this broken mirror shines with Your holy light, Shiva, my Shiva!

Shiva, You are the purity of light that sweeps across the psyche. You set forth that which i now need to know for dispelling the shadows falling over the vision, darkening, distorting & deadening. You encapsulate me, holding me in the purity of Your light as if i am an infant clasped in the mother's arms & suckled at her soft breast. Shiva, Your fragrance is so sweet that i am dissolving in it, becoming sweetness, emitting light like a beacon for lost travelers, or like a campfire kept burning through the night to hearten. Shiva, You are the intimacy of night, smoothing all the wrinkles & rough edges that tell of a long arduous journey, soothing the hungering heart with Your calm touch. the very atoms of You & i embrace & intermingle in communion that words cannot reveal. ah, but words can point the way & they can comfort & strengthen also, until the silence grows so deep that it muffles & floods all else but the purity of light & the long slow intimacy of the night.