O Spirit

Descend and move us,
O uncontrollable Guide.
We cannot manipulate
     the Cloud and the Flame.
How foolish
     are our attempts -
Categorizing the unknown,
Forecasting God.
Do we only like You
     when Your form is small?
          comfortable?
          describable?
Is our allegiance conditional
     on agreement?
          familiarity?
          predictability?

O uncivilized Fountain,
Are we embarrassed
     by Your joy and grief?
Are we ashamed of Your tears,
Humiliated by Your dancing?
Do we laugh when You weep
     and weep when You laugh?

O unreasonable Wisdom,
Do we hush the children,
Do we silence the prophets -
     ignore those who speak from the margins?
Have we doused
     Your refining blaze
And built walls to block
     Your propelling wind?

O ancient Fire,
Thaw our frozen hearts!
O eternal Breath,
Fill our empty lungs!
Expose the limits of our logic,
     our fig leaves of comprehension.
Awake our imaginations
     and nourish us with mystery.

O untaintable Purifier,
Burn up our false power
     that we may know Love.
Blow away our counterfeit hope
     that we may see Resurrection.
Form dust into clay jars
     Holy to the Lord.
Come dwell,
O unparalleled Treasure,
     and flow from us
     as Life to all the world.

Ascension - 4.16,17,19.20

Sun blazes, beams down,
     nothing to hinder, to flicker
          its gaze.
Footstep crunches the glittering crust,
     crushes the gleaming crest,
Twelve points biting
     wind-sculpted white.

Lungs lunge,
     sparse oxygen seizing;
Heart thunders,
     lightning-laced and charged.
Ears catch the whistle -
     wind whipping rock rims,
     the cleft catching the call.

Pause.

     then
Climb.
What else
     can one do
In response to
     all this?