The Osprey
Wallowing within the sea of
Nonbeing, no needs left for the
poor African woman, the outer limits of her impoverishment reached:
“Once
poverty reaches completion the human being has reached the Lord”
And her
neediness terminates forever since “An object going beyond its limits
reverses
to the opposite”.
Enrobed
the sable silken gown of poverty
Gems and
gnats of ailment the embroidery
Now that
her nakedness no longer
Now that
her gaze upon no other
But she within the solitude of
Being and Nonbeing endured
the existence & destruction, finds herself in no need of her Self
nor any
sustainer and has no heart begging for sustenance from any sustainer.
Within
this state she endures the duress of Nonbeing risen above the Being of
her Self
whereat glances upon the beauty of the Beloved beholds the darkling
image of
annihilated Self, wearing the veil of darkness upon her face, neither
finds
light within the hearth of her Being nor the manifest of a luminous
face within
the hearth of Nonbeing, inescapably forsaken within the darkness.
Your
glance upon I afire
Through
her vapid deadened eyes
Whilst my
Self escaping the flames
Charred
dancing in love midst the flares
I…
Loveless
and unbowed my pen
I…
Lifeless and unnoted my death
If the affluent and an
emaciated ailing African woman both
brave the universe of Divine Love, the affluent is carrying a lantern
and she a
half-lit torch. Any breeze from the universe of love extinguishes the
affluent’s lantern but flares up her torch.
The vexed
osprey of her tense eyebrows
Carried
mine loveless corps to fjords aloft
The
shore-less sea of a Divine Love
Billowing
upon every broken heart
Gazing
upon the waves of this sea Eye-less
Laying
upon the cliffs of denial I-less
Glimpse of
the last sun-less osprey’s dive
The last
of any vision within the eye
The eye
that was once I or maybe my Self
Longing to
glance upon the Beloved
timeless
End.
Note: The
prose are from the Divine Love Lessons of Araqi
click on this line to see the actual text.
Background:
Theodetta (35) from Gikongoro in Rwanda is dying of
AIDS. Her husband died of AIDS two months ago and she estimates that
she has
days left to live. At her side are her two children Phillis and
Celestine. Photo by Chris Leslie 2002.
©
2004-2002, Dara O. Shayda