[Thespiritexpress] Poem Muhammed read at Mastery

[Riantee Rand]

> 
> Possessed by the Muse. 
>  
> The muse didn’t wrestle me down on a street corner
> or on the threshold of a forest
> to insufflate poetry into me,
> to force feed me the inspired prophetic breath.
>  
> The wind of healing
> that whispers in the Chosen’s ear
> and orders the mouth to recite
> didn’t blow on me.
>  
> I wasn’t taken down, like Muhammad,
> by the angel who crushed his chest
> under its enormous weight,
> split it open to tear out the heart
> and purify it with heavenly waters.
>  
> No, the Muse didn’t possess me,
> didn’t command me,
> like with Muhammad,
> to deliver the truth.
>  
> To me she is more like a nag
> who will not give me any peace
> until I put pen to paper
> in the shade of an apple tree maybe,
> on the porch of an old school house,
> by the orchard where the Blackbird cackles
> and the Hermit Thrushes serenades.
>  
> She orders me to follow with my pen
> the subtle currents of wind,
> pushing shadows into worlds of desire,
> stringing memories like pearls
> around the morning’s neck.
> She directs me to catch a radiance not to be missed,
> but forever escaping description.
> She insists that I must.
>  
> The mind resists the supreme effort
> of flying with the word,
> birds twitter, amazed at this resistance.
> To them flying is second nature;
> they often wonder why humans
> have to stay so close to the ground.
>  
> My eyes follow the play of light
> on the fruit ripening on the branch,
> sighting a Bluejay ready to gulp it down.
> When I consult the sky,
> what does the sky command?
> “Recite!”
>  
> That muse won’t let go
> until I find the right word,
> the right phrase,
> that will embrace the whole story
> of poets, prophets, bards and healers of the past
> into a single breath
> of lavender and rosemary.
>  
> Like Muhammed I resist
> then I submit.

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