Copyright © 2010 by William R. Mistele

Twenty-Seven Poems of Love and Magic

(Posted On Facebook; mostly new, from recent to past)

A Novice Kabbalist Shares a Poem

The Cosmic Letter U

If you imagine the universe

And take away all the stars and galaxies

And all matter and energy both light and dark

But keep the open empty void of pure nothingness

This is the cosmic letter U on the akashic plane—

It reveals the original purpose and purity of anything that exists.

Every day I work with this.

If you imagine a mirror perfectly clear

Without image, light, or form

Like an empty theater where the lights are turned out

And the audience has gone

This is the letter U on the level of mind:

This is the stage

Where every drama past, present, and future plays

Every thought that can be thought

Originates from this space.

Thoughts are like meteors hitting the atmosphere

They appear, shine bright, and then they disappear.

I know this because my mind shines with this darkness.

When the male feels and knows

Everything that can be felt and known

About himself and the female

The female feels and knows

Everything that can be felt and known

About herself and the male

They arrive in the same place—

An emptiness that is also a loving embrace

This is the U on the astral plane

Every poem I write has this taste.

If you can sense how gravity appears

When matter draws near

The fierce dance of electrons

As they combine and unwind

To the electro magnetism of chemistry’s rhymes

Or how the key master

At the atom’s core

Measures time

As he carries out his stern and laborious chores

This is the letter U on the physical plane--

Everything that exists

Plays at the edge of nothingness

I have always known this—

It is why I have come here:

To celebrate the beauty of the universe

Yesterday When I Was Young

Yesterday when I was young

I did not know

I would have to let go

Of every lover and friend

Anyone life would send

Yesterday when I was young

Yesterday when I was young

I did not know

I would always be alone

I would never have a home

There was no community

Where I could go

Whose songs I could call my own

Yesterday when I was young

I did not know

Only after a long journey

Through darkness and the abyss

Would I realize this:

Some things you must discover

On your own--

Yesterday when I was young

I did not know

One day my home

Would be a community

Whose members can slip inside another’s soul

And relive the other’s experience

As if the memory is their own,

Who realize

That everything in nature on this planet

Speaks of love

That there is a joy so great

All suffering and pain

It annihilates?

Yesterday when I was young

I did not know

The planet itself is a song of love

The human race does not yet know.

Yesterday when I was young

She is the mist

She is the mist
A soft, wet caress
On my chest her fingers drift
I am her song
The world is gone
Her breath, her lips
All that exist.

Child of Love (for K)

Child of love
Child of light
Guide us through the darkest night
Walk beside us into the light

Child of the sea
Who knows her dreams
Always be near to me
Remind me to be free
Walk beside me in my dreams
Dream with me a new humanity

Child of love
Child of light
Walk beside us into the light

One day a woman will love me

(the voice of Shiva)

One day a woman will love me
As the sky loves the sun, moon, and the stars
Perfectly one yet perfectly free
A love that is giving
Without loss or diminishing her beauty

She shall love me as the sea
Loves the waves, the winds, the tides,
And the moon that with her heart confides
Her beauty as deep, as wild, and as free

She shall love me
As the avatar of the goddess Kundalini
With divine fire in her eyes
At her touch the world will cease to be
For in her love is the fulfillment
Of every desire and dream

Rewrite to Match the Song

If It be Your Will by Leonard Cohen

If it be your will
That I speak no more
That my voice be still
That our love be no more
I shall abide
Without you by my side
Your love to guide
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken heart
I will sing to you
From this broken heart
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken heart
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let our love shine
Let the sun and moon combine
Let the earth be filled
With the dawning light of a new world
If it be your will
To fill the earth with light

Let your lips bless
Your hands caress
Your ears to confide
Your love to guide
Our love to guide
With you by my side
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will

Yesterday When I Was Young

(a rewrite of the song sung by Andy Williams)

Yesterday when I was young
I remember how you kissed me, our bodies one,
It was so good I knew I could never die
With you always there to walk by my side

The dreams I dreamed were only of you
To be alive was to share my life with you
I knew by night and by day, there was no other way
You were my heart, my soul, the one who made me whole

Yesterday when I was young
I thought true love had finally been won
Our love was a river flowing endlessly
Your touch a sea, I swam in ecstasy

We danced all night, we laughed and we played
When you were in my arms, all worries went away,
Our bodies a feast, the wine on which we dined
Our love a celebration intended to defy time

Yesterday, the moon was blue
She spoke to me of you, of things we used to do
She said what once was shall someday be again
That love like ours never has an end

Until I met you, I was never fully alive
Every desire set on fire, every hunger satisfied,
When two are one, the greatest treasure is won
We were blessed by the moon, and blessed by the sun

There are so many songs we might have sung
Our entire lives together lived beneath a golden sun
But time brought to end our love
Yesterday, when I was young.

Yesterday when I was young
I thought true love had finally been won
Our love was a river flowing endlessly
Your touch a sea, I swam in ecstasy

Is Aikido Sufi dancing?

Is Aikido Sufi dancing?
Does the bliss of twirling
Suspending space and time
Compare to the endorphins and adrenaline
Of resolving conflict and restoring balance?
Does the Ninja possess
The Zen masters clarity
And awareness of the opportunities
Hidden in the moment,
Because he perceives with greater ease
Sight, scent, sound, taste, and smell?
Can the yogi’s breath

Match the sword master’s step
In commanding neurons and nerve endings?
Does any “spiritual” person on earth
Have a clue as to the taste of pleasure
In the thrill of scientific discovery—
The double helix of DNA,
That time and space are mutually defined,
And that the universe is only five per cent
Of what is seen?
The galaxies spin to a hidden wind.
Blessed are those who unite opposites
Within themselves,
For they shall lay
The foundation for a new world.

On Owls, Atmospheres, Rats, and Masters

In chapter one of Initiation into Hermetics
The exercise is to
Think no thoughts for ten minutes
I sat with a Zen master who said that was impossible
I sat with an owl, a hawk, a cat, and a rat
Who said it is probably, even habitual
If in your habitat you have the habit
Of deferring to perception and sensation
Rather than to your mental creations
In chapter three
You imagine the entire universe is one of four elements
I sat with the Dalai Lama's weather controller
Who could stop a thunderstorm with his mind
Forcing it to sit on the horizon for three days of time
For him, controlling a storm
Is like pouring water over green tea in a pot
The water must be hot, the tea the right amount
And then the taste of the tea you savor
It is about containment and timing in the right measure
I sat with the sylph Cargoste
Who can stop the onset of an ice age for twenty years
He is aware of the entire atmosphere of the earth
Tropic and arctic, trade wind and jet stream
It does not matter
He would agree about timing and containment
But differ on amount
For Cargoste, it is not about enlightening the mind
Rather, "The universe is on the verge of exploding
Because of the joy it contains."
You could say he savors and tastes in a different way
He places the subject matter in a different frame
In chapter seven, you not only become empty
You become nothing at all
You penetrate and dissolve
Space and time with your mind
I was once kicked out of a Hindu fire ceremony
By the wife of the presiding priest
The spirit that entered me while we chanted
Was not from her lineage
He radiated no light
The Tao Te Ching would fall over laughing at that
To follow the way
You must "prefer both light and dark" in equal measure
Especially since ninety per cent of the universe
Is invisible to sight
It emits no light at all
I would say
it was not their best day
For standing tall
There are many strange things on earth
Mermaid walk among us,
As does the next race that replaces us
They are waiting for us to screw up
May such a day never fall.

Hanging out

I am not allowed to complain
But I can name my game
One woman I did not marry
She would not get up
And watch the sunrise
Like so many women back then
She preferred cities
While I preferred deserts, mountains,
And tropical islands
Sunrise and sunset are special
But to spend quality time together
A casual outing for me:
I would like a woman to become a tree
We could sit in front of one
And melt into the trunk
Slipping our souls inside
I could be the seeds and she the leaves
We could drop down into the roots
And there we shall listen
To the silent song
The earth sings to other planets
Minutes will be seasons
We will say to the tree
Tell us about yourself?
And she may reply,
I fell to the earth, I slept,
I awoke, I was a spout,
I flourished
And now the earth and sky unite in me.
Or she and I could sit by a waterfall
The falling drops shall be our soul
To let go, to flow, in the moment,
To become nothing at all
And yet to be joined to the stream,
The sea, the cloud, the wave breaking on the beach,
To be as still and serene as this mountain pool
We feel the stars sinking into our depths
Where can I find a woman like that?
What woman's concept of femininity
Is the physical sensation of the open, empty space
That embraces all stars and galaxies?
A casual conversation? Maybe dinner? A movie?
How about a woman who can feel the air around her body
Turn into liquid water, blue-green, cool, soothing, and magnetic
The sea of love encircling this planet
Nurturing all of life,
Uniting the child's first breath, the lover's first kiss,
The breath that tastes enlightenment,
The breath that rises up bright as the sun
To embrace immortality
Its a feeling, a taste, a sensation
I call it ecstasy
I do not use that word lightly.
I think I will stop boring you with my thoughts
And spend a few moments now
With whoever is in the mood to casually hang out.

Note: I am told by a woman from Tahiti that in that place there is a dance a mother teaches her daughter that is intended only to be seen by the man the woman truly loves. Perhaps if images could turn into movement and into pure magic, a mother might teach her daughter to dance like this. But after all, I am man. What... would I know of such things. These are feminine mysteries.

Let your body be a gentle wind
Tender, soft, caressing
Responsive, soothing, receptive
Let your body be the sea
Where waves roll
Five thousand miles through your soul
Rhythmic, cool, undulating,
The spray of white capped waves
Driven by the wind
The crests and troughs
Rising and falling
Let your body be the sky
Open and free
Where clouds form the thunderstorm
And lightning flies
Again and again without end
Your body this yearning void
Where flames burn so hot
All separation is destroyed
Be this sacred space of love
Still, at peace, serene,
The depths and surface of the sea
The winds, the storm, the sky
Wild and free
Where desire and love
Find each other and entwine
The two of you
Forever new, forever one

Your Dance

(from the Song of the Universe)

Your hips rising upon the air
As a prayer on a path of love
Flies on wings to the heart of God.
Your thighs circling, molded
As a sea of sand dunes sculptured by the wind
An intimate caress
My palm will never find
Flowing upon your skin.
Your hips embraced
By shadow and light
Drinking as an elixir
The secret places of your delight
I shall never taste your lips
Nor the rhythm of the sea
Flowing around your thighs
Though I drown in a sea of bliss
Though ecstasy be my wine.
Your hands, your fingers
Adrift on the winds my soul will never know
Sail as moonlight through white winters
Sail as twilight through my dark desires.
You hum,
Your passion glistening on your skin
And your scent
Shakes me as you pierce me deep within
My nerves scream like rivers running
From the tallest mountains
Evaporating and lost
Amid the desert's red dunes
Your body pulses
The music undulating
Enchanted by your skin
My heart beats
But I can not find the way
Even I hear
The depths of your fullness
Releasing in your breath
Even as your voice
Winds its way through my soul
With more intimate caress
Than a river shaping a valley
Flowing upon its hills,
Its granite cliffs, its secret pools.
There is a candle
A wick naked and exposed
It burns furiously
Inhaling the air
Exhaling flames of desire
Melting
Darkness submits
To worship upon this altar
Your body
Your hips whose play
A wine
Fermented from starry ecstasies
My craft will never find
The flame is red
The flame is white
The flame burns me
With a delight I shall never taste.
I have entered a place
Where men are forbidden to go
A place of the soul
A wilderness unknown
Where breath can not flow
The heart can not seek
But it is clearly seen as you dance--
Your hips and thighs
Caressing the air
Your body sharing your innermost being
Unfolding as you enfold this moment
In circles, curls, and turns
Rising and descending
With a love I shall never know.

When I meditate

(written by some ancient bard)

When I meditate

There is no me inside

If you look within this body

You will not find flesh and bones,

Organs, or veins and arteries where blood flows

Rather, you will see stars and galaxies

I have become the oceans

Rivers and streams

I am the forests and trees

Lightning and the thunderstorm

I am mountains, volcanoes exploding,

And the fire at the earth’s core

I am sunrise and sunset

And the sun and the moon

I am anointed with the beauty of the universe

Her light shines through my eyes

I speak with her voice

For she is my lover--

Inside of this body

The two of us are joined

I am her presence on earth in human form

A Hymn to Divine Providence

In every breath and sigh of air
His love is there
In sight, smell, taste, sound
In touch it abounds
Ecstasy is everywhere

Darkness is another kind of light
Hidden in your heart
Through your choice
It gains voice
Through your art
What is separate reunites

Who can skip, dance, and play
So that time fades away
The moment halting
Stillness blossoming
Its fragrance
Encompassing the universe?

What prophet or saint
Can stand in the Presence
And feel what this Stranger feels
So there is nothing you can not heal
No secret you can not reveal
No mysterious light so bright
You can not endure the sight?

In every breath and sigh of air
His love is there
Who can grasp
The wonder of being alive
In every moment of time
To walk by His side?

What is like unto God?

What is like unto God?
What breath can express His Presence?
Whose voice can sing His songs?
What created thing reflects His Essence?
What image captures His form?
What priest or sage can measure His mystery?
What prophet or mage can comprehend His plans?
What warrior has the courage
Or hero the strength
In His presence to stand?
Is their an artist anywhere in the universe,
A sculptor whose hands are so skilled
He can create beauty like unto the beauty
God creates on a billion billion worlds?
Can the creature ever understand the Creator?

Open Letter to the Dalai Lama

With all due respect,  

You want Tibet back?

As a temporary agent of the 49 Judges of Saturn

I’ll tell you the bottom line,

You do not deserve Tibet back at this time.

If you really want it, you can have it

But here is the karmic bind:

What you seek for yourselves

You will not find

Until justice and peace are applied first

To all human beings across the earth

Short and sweet—between the nations make peace

I personally will hand you Tibet in three years guaranteed

If my words you have the courage to heed:

Take thirty of your best disciples on earth

And for an hour a day

Do the Kalachakra, wrathful compassion,

Inside of dictators who cause pain and suffering

The Chief Judge of Saturn herself--right from her lips--

Offers you this tip:

A religion of kindness will never succeed

Until you and your disciples go one on one

With the malicious

Not until your hearts are more powerful than theirs

As in getting them to stop arming and harming.

It counts for nothing your large, solemn gatherings

Puga mantra-ing, robes, and Bodhisattva vows

When you are asked by akasha to fulfill this task:

Tear down the concrete and barbwire walls

Of North Korea, stop Iran from arming Hezbollah,

And other comparables

Specific time frames for real world tasks is what I ask

Fail in this endeavor

And Tibet you will have never,

What you seek for yourselves

You must first give to others

No one said life was fair

But like stone soup

You have to put in your fair share.   

The Beatitudes

1. Blessed are those who trust, for they have entered the kingdom of heaven.

2. Blessed are those who pass through their inner darkness without fear or shame, for they shall attain freedom.

3. Blessed are those who find the divine within themselves, for they shall create peace and justice shall fill the earth.

4. Blessed are those who become one with another without hesitation or limitation, for what they dream shall come into being.

5. Blessed are those whose minds are as clear and pure as the sky, for their peace shall be as a sea that has no shores and as a stream that flows from the dawn of time to the ends of eternity.

6. Blessed are those who transform conflict into harmony and malice into nobility, for they shall have the keys to the kingdom and nothing shall be hidden from them.

7. Blessed are those who meet others in their darkest place and walk by their side back into the light--these are the sons and daughters of God—the children of light—for there is no greater or more sacred celebration of life.

8. Blessed are those who let go and flow as each moment unfolds, for they shall see through the eyes of God.

9. Blessed are those who unites opposites within themselves, for they shall lay the foundation of a new world.

Next Time Around

Like the core of a nuclear reactor
Where subatomic particles
Dance, dream, and scheme
Where angels hold conversations
On the abyss, annihilation, and bliss

Like the core of a nuclear reactor
Lots of energy
But watch out
If your coolant is too weak for the heat
Or your containment leaks

And if things melt down
Because you were not vigilant or diligent
Meet the surface of the sun
Without the light
More likely an explosion in the night
Another kind of frost bite

I can not complain
I know her magic name
For this purpose I entered the world
To tame nuclear flames
The abyss is my sister
Annihilation a fifty year conversation
And bliss I have tasted
Beyond human imagination.

But next time around
I will keep my feet on the ground
No more spiritual quests
All mysteries are obvious:
As simple as a kiss
A heartbeat, breath
Each moment contains a stillness
With the entire universe hidden within it
And as for her?
I will find her inside
Rather than outside
I have learned my lessons well
Desire contains both heaven and hell

Aries

A home is not your throne
Nor is desire your fire
Why take another's hand
When you have a career to command
Aries, you are so conventional,
All that is real for you is the tangible
Obstinate, hard headed
Though great at beginnings
You avoid endings.
Of the twelve you are the dimmest,
Yet you burn the hottest
Not one to complain
You are the fire of will
A blacksmith of great skill
Who melts the dictator’s chains
Your obstacles you make personal
To solve a problem
Is why you exist
Big or small it doesn’t matter which
You find the means
If a weapon is what you need
You invent or create it
You are the first to cross the wilderness
When the other eleven fear to open the door
You knock. You call out. You shout.
Sometimes it only takes a shove
You are an iron fist inside a glove

Dear Gemini

Communication is your great skill
Develop it well
Like two hands that clap
Smack
Causing others to jump back
You present the bottom line
The best choice to make
In each moment of time

Choose this, you get that
Choose that,
You get ditched or hitched
The choice is now
Winner take all
But if you delay
You will forever regret this day

Gemini
You do not hold back
You weigh the facts
What a person has
What he lacks
No ideals sublime
You do not have time
You only deal with the real
You are the perfect bartender
Casual, rude
Arguing both facts and rules

You like to say
Play your best hand
What we can accomplish today, now,
Is all we can ever really comprehend

Dear Gemini,
Looking into another's eyes
Is when and where
You feel most alive.

Beauty Is A Most Remarkable Thing

Beauty is a most remarkable thing.
To taste it is to fly with divine wings.
When its light fills you eyes,
You see sights hidden from the wise.
When it touches your skin,
You are freed of all sin.
And if it ever should anoint you,
Its cool, soothing tenderness flowing through you,
Then all that you have ever lost
Is again found
And impossible hopes and dreams
Will soon come around.

A Life Coach Blessing

(see video of same)

There are no free lunches in life.
If you want results, do the work.
But everyone deserves a blessing.
Here is my blessing for you:

May the sun shine upon all your paths
May friends always walk beside you
May love always guide you
And reach the inner recesses of your heart

May every task you seek be made complete
May you be the sun and the moon to others’ lives
May you be as the light of dawn
To others in the darkest night

May you taste the happiness
That comes only to a few in every century
May you find another who brings you comfort
And is always there to share all your cares

As we travel the path of life
Seeking to fulfill a dream
The gift you give of your self
Is all I want or need

Peace to you
May the peace of the sun, the moon,
The sky and seas
Always flow through your dreams.
And in the end may you look back and see
That your life is all it is meant to be.

I love your eyes
So quiet and peaceful
A place to let go
And forget who I am
Until I awaken
To the sound of waves breaking
And the scent of the sea
I see the man I am meant to be
Walking toward me
Your eyes dream him into being.

On Love

(forthcoming video)

It is impossible to generalize about love. But I will try.

For those who love water, love is an unending stream like two rivers joining or two clouds flowing together as one. You are inside your lover and, like water being poured into water, your lover is you in another form.

For those who love air, love is tender and unbearably sweet. It is two dancing together to the notes and cords of two lives that are now one song. Together you remain free and yet together you are complete.

For those who love earth, love is sacred alchemy--a binding together like the molecular bonds in chemistry. When you take this to the extreme, you and your lover share the same soul. You inner bond to each other is that deep.

For those who love fire, desire is a consuming fire. Here love commands you to give all that you are and more. When your fire burns pure, the two of you fuse as one and your love shines as bright as the sun.

For those who love the fifth element, akasha, personal love is impossible. How can another love you with all her heart soul, mind, and strength when your love is everywhere within everyone without limitation or restraint? But if there was such love, you would see in their eyes, smiles, and faces the beauty of the universe shining through them, for they have become the chalice of God's grace.

The Girl and the Stream

The girl and the stream are the same dream
Letting go into the flow
To know love as water knows--
It curls and turns
It swirls and yearns
Lying beside you
She dreams your dreams.

(from The Master, the Student, and the Mermaid Woman)

Knight: I am dead and you are an angel.
Undine: You are not dead and I am not an angel.
Knight: Your inner light flows through me like a stream. This is a most unusual dream.
Undine: This is not a dream.
Knight: In what world does beauty such as this exist?
Undine: I am a creature of God's grace and here there are secrets only love knows--how to be one with another's soul.
Knight: One day will you find me, be part of me, as you are now?
Undine: As the sky is part of the stream, as the stream nurtures all things, even so I shall be part of your soul. Forever free, in love and beauty, as one stream our lives shall unfold.

Tonight Ride in My Name

Four men riding horses
Halt by my gate
The rider of the pale horse dismounts
Offering me the reins saying,
Child of Saturn
Wrath of compassion
Annihilation of attachment
Tonight ride in my name
Work must be done
Before the rising sun
If you wish peace established on earth

In The End

(I wrote this while asleep, in a dream)

In the beginning
Two harmonies--
One with the self,
One with the world.
For each,
The bow bends,
The arrow flies,
The target hit.
But then,
Mind and target join
Self and world align
In the end,
One harmony.