(…peace…)
infinitely
sustaining
a skyward melody
whistling harmlessly through the air
(…peace…)
(…peace…)
rifling deep into the blue
delivered by a thousand arms of gods
shooting aimlessly into heaven
(…peace…)
exploding
across the beach
in a shrill arc of notes, relentlessly
serene
bursting across the dunes
(…peace…)
(…peace…) charging
amidst the incoming fire of the sun
a heroic figure of music
advancing within the day’s dire onslaught
(…peace…)
somewhere
shivering implacably
through a flute
(…peace…)
(…peace…) someone
beseeching of mercy, imploring of
salvation,
plying the air with a melody of
deliverance
(…peace…)
somehow
issuing from the stops of a flute
supremely humane notes (…peace..)
(…peace…)
blown forth in a tone of complete
acquiescence,
of utter surrender, unconditionally laid
down;
a music of inner armistice (…peace…)
piercing through the din upon
the beach
the gentle sound
of a flute wide
open (…peace…)
(…peace…)
beside the fierce cannonades of surf
groaning upon the foaming shore of
foaming
wounds
(…peace…)
inside
the snapping waves of bullets
bringing
down row after tumbling row
of
men beside the waves (…peace…)
(…peace…)
within
the rush of scattering birds
and
men dashing for cover
behind
only a shield of air
(…peace…)
blast after blast
barraging
the shore and dunes
with
accurate notes …peace…)
(…peace…)
infinitely
sustaining
the
gallant stand
made
by this melody
(…peace…)
this
courageous solo effort
moving
invisibly between
the
living and the dying
(…peace…)
(…peace…) saving the life
of
the one man
who
heard it
(…peace…)
and
followed it
to
its absolute
unembattled
end
(…peace…)
(…peace…) notes of reversal
not
heard but Hearing itself
become
the ears
(…peace…)
of
the One who hears the world’s cries -
succorer,
liberator
the
very breath of this flute that hears
hapless
shrieks of agony
hurled
into the flaming sky
spilling
into the reddening shore and tide
(…peace…)
rising above the horrid stench of smoke
and blood
above the horrific screams
of men torn to pieces
(…peace…) suddenly, one man struck down
to
his core
by
a note like a bullet meant for him
(…peace…)
entering
into his ear
and
unstoppably tearing open
his mind (…peace…)
(…peace…)
the
universe
charging
into him,
overtaking
his ground of being
(…peace…)
from
all sides at once
the
combined force, in flesh and blood,
of irony and paradox allied (…peace…)
(…peace…)
more
than he could withstand
the
heavens and earth
exploding
in a blinding flash
(…peace…)
his
world brought to a jolting end
by
this sound ripping off the top of his head
forcing him to drop body and mind (…peace…)
(…peace…)
succumbing
to the inconceivable accident
of
enlightenment that astonishingly overtook him,
going down and down (…peace…)
transcending
both
war and peace
transcending life and death (…peace…)
(…peace…)
Today
it is said
that
many died that day,
but
none will ever know
how
much
it
took to die
and
be reborn
there
Notes: This poem is based on a legend of enlightenment.
In
it a solider miraculously heard a flute playing during
A
beach invasion and was raised into cosmic consciousness.
There
is no knowing who played it or even where and when the battle took place.
The
word (…peace…) is not strictly meant to be read but it helps the poem in many places, though not in all. It may, rather, serve more
as marginalia and a subliminal feature o f the poem.
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