When We Meet - Alex Cowie

When we meet, I
will be drowning
beneath the diversionary desires
of all my most oblivious years

when You come from far horizons, I
will dream all colours of madness
in the unspeakably sweet scent
of Your ocean heart's blossoming dawn

if You come suddenly like rain, with
a new moon in Your darkening shadows, I
will turn
as the tides turn
& brighten in the storm

this shall be the breaking of every drought

as the desire of my mind becomes the desire of my heart

I shall be drowning
when we meet . . .


THE TIDE OF LOVE

what day will reach Your hand to me?
which sunrise blind me with Your eyes?

what winds will blow You close again?
which rains soften these harsh skies?

new moon of my darkened soul
as i drown beyond Your horizons, i know

I know this tide of love will turn

must turn soon

soon.......


& You will breathe my life
& make me whole


MY SHIP SAILS CLOSE TO FIRE

i laugh you, dream -
my ship sails close to fire
& i am cursed to wake from you
upon my funeral pyre

i thank you, pain -
where hearts sink lost to view
where heaven & hell both look the same
as that which they shine through

i greet you, life -
my death looms like the sky
& i in chaos bright am blind
where shadows haunt my eye

i weep You, Love -
Your eyes too deep are far
beyond my wildest dreams of You
& i some falling star

so hold me near
& we shall breathe our song
for love remains beyond the dawn
of days which soon are gone

& i will fall
Your star through skies aflame
& though all nothing burns to dust
I’ll not forget Your name


RANSOM, O BELOVED

ransom, o Beloved, this
Thy captive heart, this
frozen flame within dark cage
of clay & bone / all beauty of Thy face
its light of day, all sweetness of Thy breath,
which fans the blaze these tears fuel,
its only refuge &
its only home

who seeks a cure
from guiding pain when absence
drowns his soul again / for near or far
what matters this? if love be true
ten thousand years of hell
are gambled
for the single sweetness
of a kiss . . .

& if by chance or fate
Thy face i see, creation's wonder
turns to dust at tavern door / wherein i,
friendless, drain this cup & drain & drain
in hope of death in wine's intoxication;
for if but once i am with Thee
i care not if i live again
for evermore

so burn desire in pain
& love, set free my heart
like noah's dove to seek a haven
from this flood in Thee / reveal Thy face
Thy beauty's grace to him who wanders blindly,
place to empty place & drown him
in the light of some
eternal sea


ROOTS

roots deep within
this beggar,
a withered tree. . .

from which,
as from beyond the stars,
a bird sings all horizons . . . . . . .

& all the while,

through tangled paths & broken fences,

each atom shines . . .


NEARNESS

the rose through every meadow blows
to seek the fickle wind; the lark, at dawn, beyond all
bounds of earth & stone, this taste of emptiness
well knows; this world of hope
in flesh & bone, where adam
never sinned


come, rose who drink death's voiceless cry
of sweet & mellow birdsong rain, come
open to my soul & show this aching heart,
my inward eye, that though all fleeting beauty fade,
'tis not
in vain


for high above these tangled thorns,
there shines bright westward-soaring sun,
as red as any rose that blows
or blood that flows upon some wounded tide
it shines
by virtue only of its source


the N e a r n e s s

S h i n i n g on

the N e a r n e s s