Ode of Signs
I. The Adam Sign
With Names we summon Cosmos out of Chaos
Waves Dunes
Stone Wind Water
Forest Fire Female
The Darkness The Lights
And God arrives
Wearing His holy Names
Inside the Names
Tonight is the birth of His vision
II. The Noah Sign
Into the face of the Lord I almost scream:
" How could You rest after releasing this
Terrible flood onto the fields we formed
By the sweat of our brow these many arid years,
This crescent of green we pulled out of the jaws
of the lion of drought?
Why must the wilderness
Begin again? "
Instead I shout
As the universe slides into sunset:
" O Lightning! Flash in the darkness of His wrath
And fill my psalm with light:
My ark of weakness and desire
That teems with new birth for our ancient land. "
III. The Abraham Sign
Will he come?
Will he come across the night of words?
Across the silence of speech?
Across the starry rose at the center of night?
Bright as the blade of words across the flesh of darkness?
Will he come, your other angel, tonight? Listen!
The cry of a hawk. The warnings of nature
The frothy blood of a slaughtered lamb in the track of heaven
Horse-bodies shining in the clouds
Above the trees and in the wind
The language of green, blazing,
The night-bird in flight
Turns to ashes inside the mirrors of fire.
IV. The Moses Sign
Ashes in virgin morning they collect and rise
As green trees in clear light
As red fruit on the fresh branch
A white bird A generous well
Everything
Is a dream that speaks of the promised land.
V. The Jesus Sign
This is the ringing of dawn's foot
On hills and in the trees
Telling how wind boomed through the grand guitar
How Virgin and angel embraced
In canopies of fire
In street-noise and in dust
How they took leave:
He to his heaven
She to her conquered body
And the song of blood began
That comes to light in the throat of sparrows.
VI. The Muhammad Sign
The garden surprised us
The garden startled us and
At its heart like a rose of fire
The lights converged like silver stallions
In this kingdom without clouds the peacocks
Spread their embroidery
Everything held among the branches of truth
Myrtle of fire A wave in deep seas
Of Flame of Beauty of Fortune
Where the bird falls before it meets the shore
And greets, delighted, its own conflagration.
The garden surprised us
The garden of blossoms bewildered us
At the center shines the green-domed shrine
Good news resounds, loud and sublime
Joy for the birth of the Chosen One
The garden arrayed in the new sunlight
Ecstatic
And the names sang.
VII. A Sign
A sun of grass and two doves singing
Before the beginning and after the end
Of Time
They burn in the branches
Of the transparent willow.
With Names we summon Cosmos out of Chaos
Waves Dunes
Stone Wind Water
Forest Fire Female
The Darkness The Lights
And God arrives
Wearing His holy Names
Inside the Names
Tonight is the birth of His vision
II. The Noah Sign
Into the face of the Lord I almost scream:
" How could You rest after releasing this
Terrible flood onto the fields we formed
By the sweat of our brow these many arid years,
This crescent of green we pulled out of the jaws
of the lion of drought?
Why must the wilderness
Begin again? "
Instead I shout
As the universe slides into sunset:
" O Lightning! Flash in the darkness of His wrath
And fill my psalm with light:
My ark of weakness and desire
That teems with new birth for our ancient land. "
III. The Abraham Sign
Will he come?
Will he come across the night of words?
Across the silence of speech?
Across the starry rose at the center of night?
Bright as the blade of words across the flesh of darkness?
Will he come, your other angel, tonight? Listen!
The cry of a hawk. The warnings of nature
The frothy blood of a slaughtered lamb in the track of heaven
Horse-bodies shining in the clouds
Above the trees and in the wind
The language of green, blazing,
The night-bird in flight
Turns to ashes inside the mirrors of fire.
IV. The Moses Sign
Ashes in virgin morning they collect and rise
As green trees in clear light
As red fruit on the fresh branch
A white bird A generous well
Everything
Is a dream that speaks of the promised land.
V. The Jesus Sign
This is the ringing of dawn's foot
On hills and in the trees
Telling how wind boomed through the grand guitar
How Virgin and angel embraced
In canopies of fire
In street-noise and in dust
How they took leave:
He to his heaven
She to her conquered body
And the song of blood began
That comes to light in the throat of sparrows.
VI. The Muhammad Sign
The garden surprised us
The garden startled us and
At its heart like a rose of fire
The lights converged like silver stallions
In this kingdom without clouds the peacocks
Spread their embroidery
Everything held among the branches of truth
Myrtle of fire A wave in deep seas
Of Flame of Beauty of Fortune
Where the bird falls before it meets the shore
And greets, delighted, its own conflagration.
The garden surprised us
The garden of blossoms bewildered us
At the center shines the green-domed shrine
Good news resounds, loud and sublime
Joy for the birth of the Chosen One
The garden arrayed in the new sunlight
Ecstatic
And the names sang.
VII. A Sign
A sun of grass and two doves singing
Before the beginning and after the end
Of Time
They burn in the branches
Of the transparent willow.
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