Copyright © 2009 by William R. Mistele
Note 1: Though living for eons or millions of years, nature spirits of this rank still
do not possess the fifth element found in human souls. As such, if and
when they die, they become no more than “the foam upon the waves.”
Perhaps when humanity is more graced with magical power and
wisdom, it shall find a way to insure that the beauty of these being
forever endures.
Note 2: I created Ermot’s vibration one by one in each of my four bodies--the
physical, astral, mental, and akashic--and so these poems belong to him.
Poems by the Merman Ermot
The Physical Body
I
Is a mountain stream separate from the waterfall it plunges over?
Is the mountain pool separate from the stream that continues on?
So it is with lovers—
As one stream
Their souls like water
They flow in and through each other
The Astral Body
II
Light is ecstasy
The fire is desire
The wick is pain
The candle is the body
Waiting to awaken
III
Watch the surface of a pool freeze over
With the onset of winter.
Watch the sky fill with stars
As twilight dies
In the dead of night
In the dead of winter
Filled with the songs of stars
Frozen in space
For another’s embrace
A lover waits.
IV
Love is drama
In Act One
The suspense is intense
It begins in the inciting incident:
Something happens you did not expect
The ordinary is interrupted
The accepted is broken
Something is lost
Something is missing
The tension in the air is electric
In Act Two,
Love has a hold on you
Whether you want it or not
Love declares,
I will find you
It does not matter your loss
Your despair, your fear
Or the obstacles far or near
This is the arch of the plot
The climax of the story is always the same
You must choose
To wager all
Or else you lose
In Act Three,
What else could it be?
You are set free,
The lover is in your dreams
The Great Mystery, the epiphany,
The wonder of flesh, heartbeat, and breath,
In your heart you and another
Will never be a separate.
My story is lightning in the dark
It is the unknown, the forgotten, and the “to be”
Captured, led captive,
Or set free as desire seeks
To satisfy its needs.
My story blends despair and rapture
Into one drink
It is the taste
Of hunger and delight mixed together
To remake your life.
My story is told again and again
In you and in everyone around you
It is life unfolding
It is the gate of joy
Opening and closing.
The Mental Body
V
The mind is the realm
Of philosophy, ideas, concepts,
Of investigative abilities
I use none of these
My mind is the drop of water
Falling from a leaf
A tear running down your cheek,
A river flowing to the sea.
It is true the mind sets priorities
Time frames for actions
Weighing gain against loss
Failure against opportunity
These are my priorities:
I hold in one hand a vision of the future
Your hopes and your dreams
And in the other hand
Your desires and needs
Your fears, your limitations
The reality of your situation
I weigh the two together
I measure
Heartbreak against peace
Love against loss
I compare the future and the past
To discover what can last
This war is waged not in the world
Or in your flesh
But in your heart and in your breath
In every moment
Love is a seed beneath the ground
Silently waiting
For the year to turn round
It is the sprout breaking free
As the rays of the sun
Anoint it with a song of ecstasy
It is the fruit of the Tree of Life
Healing all beings
Its taste revealing to each
A path of light
In every moment it is all three
But it is in the seed that love carries
The dreams of what shall be.
The Akashic Body
VI
Though almost immortal
I lack a human soul--
In me you will not find
A trace of divinity
But if I had a body of pure light
That implants in every human being
The possibilities of limitless creativity
My desire would be to teach lovers
As they join
To unleash in each other
The powers of creation
Separation and reunion would be seen
As a divine celebration
And instead of the desire to possess in the caress
In the touch of skin upon skin
They would each find within
A sea of compassion
And a river
In whose waters
We are born and reborn again and again.