-- Ode to Mystery --
By John Herlihy
How can the shadows of life’s mystery
Give safe harbor to such luminous light?
How can the hidden charms of life’s beauty
Cast their halo in the hinterland of our sight?
We gaze at the rolling hills of highlands,
Echoing the sacred rhythms of a psalm.
An invisible bridge that mystery and beauty spans,
Spreading soothing peace into the heart as balm.
Mystery as a flower bud folded on itself within,
Revealing the unseen as each flower petal unfolds.
Revelations as sparks of a fire to arouse our whim,
Just as the silken petals such delicate beauty holds.
Who but the Divinity could such delicacy assemble,
The unknown, unseen, beyond the horizon concealed.
We see it not, but the petals of the bud do tremble,
As the mysteries of another world are quietly revealed.
We pass into another world to view miraculous realities,
Stride swiftly thru the sun door, suddenly left opened.
To recline at the heavenly table surrounded by infinities,
Now in full bloom, of freedom, trust, love to betoken.
We once savored the crumbs that fell from earth’s table,
We now enjoy the plenitude that lies within the unseen.
To bask in the enrichment that these mysteries enable,
To understand where they come from, what they mean.
The mysteries, whether with us or on some distant shore,
The clarity of life’s mysteries a sure message to convey.
When made manifest, their intimacies our hearts implore,
Waves of ocean, clouds of sky, the face of God portray.
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Copyright ©John Herlihy
Tuesday 12 September 2023