MERKABA
WATER
The Memory of Water
Waves foam on the edges of some lost shore
Thoughts ebb and flow like the tide of
Remembrance, fluid and changing
And I cannot recall, from one moment to the next,
Why I am here
Like a world in danger of being erased
By a worldwide flood
When the seas will rise, constantly changing
Yet suddenly lightning strikes
And the waters part
And the corridor is laid out before me
Walking on the bottom of the sea
Like the aisle of a gothic abbey
Leading me back toward remembering
Toward the frozen shrine of memory
My mind is a sea, all or nothing
Frozen or flowing
Desperately grasping for the surface
But longing for the depth underneath
At the risk of sinking forever
Forgotten
AIR
The Weight of Air
Wind howls through these rocks
Like the songs of monks in a lofty monastery
Or the piping of an organ, playing the final dirge
Or the chiming of church bells in the tower
Like a man desperate and dying
I have climbed to this mountaintop
To ask my question, and to say my piece
Or to seek an answer from above
Like a prophet praying on his last night
I remove my sandals
For this is holy ground
The carven columns of this temple are broken and shattered
From empty lungs I breathe my prayers to the heavens
Sending them on their skyward way with each weary breath
But they falter and fall
Too heavy are the words
Laden with the weight of all the empty moments
Like a stone, thrown, and falling back to earth
Too heavy for flight
Too solid for heaven
But there is a hidden stairway to the top of the world
And I will climb, higher and higher still
Until the open air crushes me
Or the voice of God speaks from the vacuum of
Silence
FIRE
The Book of Sacred Flame
As the ashes and the embers fall
Like a million crimson fireflies, drifting, flickering
Illuminate the scarlet path, under a burning sky
Through which a shooting star crosses overhead
I pass now through a world consumed
By that which makes ruins of cities and lovers both
The spark that ignited life is burning the world to the ground
And as the fire blazes on without
I feel the flame dying within
What was once an inferno is now a single flickering candle
In danger of going out
So when the last candle burns out
And the cathedral is finally darkened
What do we do?
For one must die, the fire or ourselves
But I can feel the searing heat of a billion hearts on fire
Then I hear a voice speak to me from within the blaze
Like revelations from a burning bush
“You shall walk through fire, and not be burned.
At the end of this path lies the Book of Sacred Flame
Written by the Hand of God, with ink of Holy Fire.
Look within, and find your Name.”
EARTH
The Fortress and The Ruin
Like a man struck blind on the lonely dirt road
I have travelled many miles to darken your door
I have fallen on my face, and crawled on hands and knees
But now the pilgrimage is over
Here I stand, my chest to bare before you
And I invite you to see just what I really am
Over leagues and legions I have walked
To ask my last question, so tell me
Is the world too much for me?
Or am I too much for the world?
See me chest, look down deep
Within the ribs, between the bones
Like the pillars of a chapel
And I have come to see
That the enemy is in the sanctuary
These bones house a fortress of stone
A beating sphere that collapses with its own gravity
Creating a cavity within me
Pulling me down to that other space
The open earth waits to swallow me whole
So destroy this vessel, devour this flesh
For we are each other’s ruin
If you’ve never dug a grave
If you’ve never sunk your hands into dark soil
Or smelled the fragrance of the earth
Then you know not yourself, nor from whence you came
But I know, and I will return
For my way lies alone
If we have no shovels, then I’ll dig with my fingers
Until they become as roots
Then lay my body in the soil, between the trees
And I will finally become one with the Truth
AETHER
Along the Lighted Path
Tonight, I will fall asleep in this world
But tomorrow, I will awake in another
I will leave to walk upon the lighted path
And disappear into the air
Into the space between spaces
Betwixt the air itself
And vanish
I abandon this vacant church
For my fiery chariot awaits
To take me upward and inward
And my spirit will unite with that which lies
Below, beneath, behind and between
The endless sea through which all things flow
What I am will become one with what is beyond
For the infinite reflects the infinitesimal reflects the infinite
I float towards the light, and I stare into the sphere before me
And I hear the voice for one last time, and the first:
“I am the Truth, and I am the Forbidden
I am the Fifth, and I am the Final
I am the Secret, and I am the Hidden
The Voice from the Light, and the Center of the Spiral
Come now, Traveller, unite with the Other
For home lies beyond, and the stars are your brothers.”
Then the light became me, and I am released
And I entered the embrace, and finally found peace
-Andrew J. Clark 2010
This is a superb book. It's almost 700 pages long, but it feels like 200. If you like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, blend them together and you get this. One of the most well-written books I've had the pleasure of reading. My only gripe (which is actually a compliment) is that there is no resolution whatsoever. None. More than any other series, it feels like some one physically chopped the latter two-thirds of the book off and wrapped a cover around it. Being the first in a trilogy called the Kingkiller Chronicle, this is Day One. Day Two: The Wise Man's Fear releases in March of 2011 and I can't wait. I dread the fact that I'll have to wait years more to read Day Three.
