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Book of Assembling Prayers


maker  or shaker   or breaker

   in the head?
    out of dread?
       under the bed?
in dreams?
      or as it seems
 sometimes
    what begs us
                                                                  to reveal
                                                                  and steal
                                                                  to prove real?

 

 

PRAYER OF RECOGNITION
---------------------------------------

Great watcher
Bringer and keeper
Namer and appointer
Good father
True mother

In the ever curling flame of our longing
Your abundance  is presented and made new

In the combing of your will
We take riches from the air
Our eyes attend a harvest that is yet to be sown

 

Each to each we are like the promise of a greatness
                       out of dreams
Who will not turn to our singing?

 

Your glee is the motion of the world’s accord
Swallowed we are sharers in the perfect night
                      your being’s rise

 

Each to each we are like the shining of a treasure
                            that is near
Who will not stay for our caress?

 

 

PRAYER FOR MIDNIGHT VIGIL
----------------------------------------------

In this moonlight
The serpent and the tiger retreat from their passion

LADY you are breathing

They are we the catcher and the beaten your foundlings
Consent to our posing

IIn this moonlight we will make ourselves you--
                                quick the thread
                 easy the toil
                                     sure the drop
                                                   through the bottomless coil

                                   your being’s face     made still     in our craving

 

 

PRAYER OF RECOGNITION II
--------------------------------------------

Great Watcher
Lord Lady/Lady Lord

of places and time
of meanings and deeds
of cycles and connections
of pathways and endings
of certainties and retreats
of visions and alarms

 

Once again I take from the unsought
                        your claims on me

Hounded to collect what is real I subdue the ill-made
                          without effort

 

Unguarded amidst fury I am instructed in purpose
             by the acts of existence

 

Life raises life again through my groping
                          out of joy

 

 

 

PRAYER BEFORE DANCE
---------------------------------------

Ah glory
Yes your eyes are with me now

I give  to be taken
Come stay with me

 

The arrow’s snapped            What loss is not forgive now?

In chaos lies the blessing of the seeker’s way
YOU ARE THE HOLD IN THE GUSHING FOUNT

Ah yes
Your eyes are moving now

I CLASP TO BE FREE

 

 

 

PRAYER OF RECOGNITION III
--------------------------------------------

Sleep LORD

               LADY your endurance is our
only hope and spur

 

                                          THE QUEST REMAINS

The shield and yoke are powder on your skin
CLEANSE IN THE BREEZE

 

The whirl affords a place for the dreamer
SLEEP LORD!
Rest in your haven

Wake as one with song
of your birthing

 

 

PRAYER FOR THE DANCING MOMENT
----------------------------------------------------------

Keep pace MADAM SIR
The blanket fills
The arbitrary loft entices and preserves
                   the maker’s find

 

Ghosts we are mistress brother
Filaments and sediment           
Passengers abandoned to our working

 

Jump free!
The push that guides suffices for its ends

 

ASHES   ETCHINGS    CHAMBERS    BRIDGES  we are lady king
   

play well!

 

 

PRAYER OF RECOGNITION IV
----------------------------------------------

Praise then the voice that measures circumstance
                           through us               in us
That weds the moment by our pressing to receive
                                                be filled

We the instruments consigning to our rhythm rhythm’s source
Our openness the yield that clusters might in time

PRAISE THEN THE VOICE the might of all
IN US           THROUGH US              the word

 

 

PRAYER AT DANCING’S END
---------------------------------------------

See us in the moment LADY        
in the betweeness of ordainment and the artful catch
                          of hope

 

We whimper
We exhort
We bow at last

 

COVER US IN THE CHILL NIGHT OF WAITING
We are enveloped one by one
                                     each alone drifting  from ourselves
            our places best constructed to endure
              be cherished IN YOUR NAME

 

SEE US!
YOU our luck and power
                                          HIDDEN
                                                REAL
                                                 CONTENDING

 

 

even in the silence
     that emerges out of darkness
             without plan

 
   
   
 
 
   
© Hopman
 
     GERALD HOPMAN                   Home       Poems 1956-2012       Latest Works       Bio       Statement      Contact