Worthy It Is: A Second Look

The Genesis

When this was born, radiant And the opening
moments when mouths immersed in the soil
wore the flesh of this place
Chlorophyll blood and seeds yellow in the loam
And the water, so beyond primordial in her slumber,
suffused pure glass sky,
beneath the cypress trees and the magnanimous
redwoods vertical
Reduced to one I stood
the planet
exhaling with a boom
My spirit cried out for a Navigator and Angel
I recall at that moment
the three African ladies
lifting their limbs in the East
Their embossed backs, and the fog they were
passing through dissipating as if it was loitering
to the west And vegetation of all shades
It was the sun, within me turning,
on fire, perfect, that was speaking And
the One I was truly, the One for this eternity,
the One steadfast in the quagmire
the One wrapped up in Heaven
I sensed the changing winds
above my crown
And his voice, like everything that was and will be,
instantly became the words of the forest, of the oceans:
"Your commandment", he uttered " is of this realm and so it is
and shall be done for you are of this realm
Learn and move onward
and battle." he said
"Each choose your tools," he commanded
And he extended his palms
an adolescent God painting hurt and
mirth at the same stroke
First the Seven Axes, wringing with power,
pulled from atop the summit of defenses,
toppled to the surface
as in the tempest
at its inception
from where the scent of a bird is formed
and starting anew
the essence was brandished fresh
and the monsters were manifesting human
So ultimately designed, the Unthinkable
Then every breath of my brethren reached too
the small lads with blown-out cheeks
and tails emerald and wide, like a manatee
and the others, elder men: comforting, aged
enamel-coated, gruff
And they cut the cloud in half, and half again
and what was left, the fragments drifted off
being followed they proceeded North
With vast pedestals and boldly, the grand Tower
walked across the lake
The spot where as far as the eyes can see winced
so identifiable, so condensed and immovable

This the opening song.

And I who I truly am, the One who for this eternity
the One steadfast in the quagmire, the One molded by God,
traced with my digits the horizon
lines
elevating at severe degrees to hills
descending below below: a soft bend
both within each other
islands and continents that caused me to notice
the odour of ground like knowing
so true it was
that the soil accompanied me willingly
blushing red in unseen areas
and elsewhere filled with minute fir pins
Then, more at ease,
the mountains, the valleys,
and after, with the fist gingerly in decline,
the meadows, the vistas,
and more, now, boulders rebellious and deserted
those of aggressive reactions
He paused a second to survey his creations
complex or grandiose:
Olympus,Taygetus were raised
"This will still be after you have gone," he stated
And he manufactured silk through the rocks
and fashioned shale from the core of the world
building elongated steps around the rise
There, by himself, he positioned
white sapphire hot springs
windmills of coral sky
small fleshy verandas
and large ventilated hummingbirds
Vanity with its four left bookends
And because he pondered at the beauty
he made love so to be embraced
the vast pools consumed with love
the herds dropped their foreheads slowly, cows and ewes
as if the world could not bribe
as if treachery had not yet been uttered
"To hold serenity you need fortitude," he said
and spinning around with hands open he made
iris, orchids, poppies
all kinds of surface delights
and etched into everyone the mark of the creator
their domination and resilience:
This clay
this glorious infinity!
But prior, the ecstasy of air melodious hung for the first time
as I ventured towards the panorama
( ascending an endless crimson yoke of sand
negating The Past with my shank )
I traversed my linens, searching but for what, this,
naive and turbulent like a winery
out of depth and innocent like a new sky
A frond of your being from this soil
Then with one word, the seas were and spoke
And I could not help but wonder in awe
At the middle, he placed little jewels familiar:
Stallions composed of crystal, full of vigor
and tranquility dawned its pillow of moss
and porpoises showing their fins
( Ios, Sikinos, Serifos, Milos )
"Every syllable a dove
gathering April in July", he said
And a multitude of orange groves
to bridle the luminescent with their hands
settling like a sheet, onto this night
and a chorus of eagles
but you can't remember that sound
and humility molts in the day
and so little water
replacing The Almighty like a commodity
and the Birch went solo and knew now who it was
without the floor that is left standing
so that its as close as skin
and you get where its from
fragile the earth you are standing on
and rooting is impossible without space
and dig further into your navel
and touch the air you encounter
remembering everywhere everything you are
THIS CLAY
this glorious infinity!

" And this sphere you must behold and take"
he said: See! And my cornea beheld the grains
out distancing even the precipitation
over a thousand untouched acres
The flint breathing in the darkness and
plumes of water out of nowhere
I was erasing the solitude to rethink
gold sprouting soothsayers and the amoebic words
The shovel still in my embrace
I witnessed the proud herbs, their silhouettes
some standing off and others mimicking
There the asparagus, there the kale
here the parsley curling
acanthus and dandelion
liatris and fennel
In secretive letters I reached for my name
" Magnificent," he said " you can read
and in time you will understand so much more
if you study the Insignificant in depth
And soon you will require assistance
Remember:
the zephyr full of dispute, the robust pomegranate
and the red hot fleeting kisses"
And his words settled like pollen
The ninth hour, partridge-like, beating into the deep heart of euphony
the houses stood in solidarity
petite and like a perfect box
arched white and entrances of blue
Beneath the lavender vines
In my mind but elsewhere
with a symphony of chirping
distant coos, twitter and tenors croaking:
There the stork and pelican
there the turtledove
there the mallard and the owl
And the mosquito was there too
and the Virgin's mare
At the banks my arms exposed to the sun
and surrounded by the seas
with one third between; groves of citrus
and the northwesterly wind being confronted
realigning the ozone's sky
Beneath the leaves
small pebbles worn smooth
and minute ears of flowers bickering
and sprouting inpatients which just are
This Clay
this glorious infinity!

Then I began to comprehend the tides and the
endless chatter of the trees
On the wharf sat three jugs painted red
and near the wood shutter
where I lay on my side
the wind from the north crowed loudly
And I saw
Breathtaking mermaids naked and soft as glass
with a touch of black nestled between the thighs
and flowing black locks that covered the shoulders
and standing upright they blew the conch
and others writing with chalk
exotic and words that convey:
ROES, ESA, ARMINA,
NUS, MIROLTAMITY, YELTIS
hyacinths and the whispering talk of birds
the many sounds of July
At the arm of eleven
five leagues deep
perch, goby, seabream
with large gills and small tails to rudder
Higher still I encountered
sponges and starfish
and thin speechless anemones gumming the words
and further up at the water's mouth
rose limpets translating the depths of blue
and mussels partially revealed and algae
" Treasured things," he said " ancient oaths
passed over by time and the gathering winds ears"
And by the wooden shutter
where I lay asleep on my side
I pulled the pillow against my body
and my eyes filled with water
I was in the sixth month of my love
and within my care a precious seed stirred
This clay
this glorious infinity!

" But first you will see the wilderness and give it your
own meaning," he said
" It will come before your heart and after it
Know this above all
whatever you retain in the lightning
will not be altered forever"
And high beyond the waves
he placed villages of stone
There the foam arrived as dust
I saw an emaciated goat tonguing the cracks
its eyes on an angle, its thin body hard as quartz
I endured the locusts and the thirst and the rough-jointed fingers
for the fixed number of years ordained by the wise
Hunched over papers and bottomless night
I went down a slender rope trying to understand
I sought whiteness to the utmost intensity
of blackness, hope to the point of tears
joy to the outer limit of despair
And help arrived when it was supposed to
and the task was allotted the rains
streams sang all day
I ran like mad
on the slopes I tore terebinth, my palm gave myrtle
freely to the breeze's bite
" This is Purity," he said
" the same on the slopes as in your guts"
And he opened his palms as would
an ancient experienced God fashioning clay
and heaviness together
He fired the mountain ranges so they were barely lit
and made the grass true green, untouched--- he
moved onto the ravines
mint, lavender, verbena
and the impressions of sheep in the dirt
or again elsewhere, descending free from the altitude
pale shards of light, frosted locks of a woman
I saw and desired
True Mother
" Glorious," he said, she is
and overcome by lust I cradled the form
Kisses lip to lip; then entangled
Riding a tempest
like a coat I stepped heavily
that the atmosphere hid in the caverns
Like a perfectly worn echo the fish
moved with grace, just below the surface
and higher, my feet for mounds and the sun as a brow
I pictured the great Ram ascending the sky
And the One I was truly, the One who for this eternity
the One steadfast in the quagmire,
the One tied to the clouds whispered when I asked
What is Good? What is Evil?
" A point A point
and with this quandary you will ascertain balance and be
and after it chaos and blackness
and before it the trumpets of angels
A point A point
and of this you can progress onward
or else, everything falls apart."
And the Standard that, with my arms spread
seemed to level the light and instinct, were
This clay
this glorious infinity!

Because minutes passed like days
with long flat purple foliage on the dial of Eden
I was the dial rolling
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
June July August
Like a thunderbolt blushing I was dumbfounded
like vinegar The young woman's insects
Faraway stirrings of the Rainbow----
" This is all the period of innocence
the time of the pups and vermilion pods
a time that precedes what is necessary," he said
And he touched boldly danger with his fingers
And he put a blackened brow on the edge of the cape
Gathered from somewhere unknown he distributed light
" So that you may behold," he said
" inside your flesh
arteries of potassium, manganese
and the calcium enriched remains
of love"
My heart could not help but stall
it was the opening air of my first breath
the night came forward shouting
perhaps advancing towards me
the signs of trauma to the body of another
going back to the world above
Past, where my spirit ends
I watched secrets passing by, whispers of
high agricultural silos On the edge, nearby castles being carried
The North star Saint Marina with the monsters
And beyond that even, further than the waves crest
on the peninsula grounded by olive groves
I thought for an instant I could see Him
He who sacrificed to make me flesh and blood
with his beautiful blood
rising the thorny path of the Saint
once again
Once again
I saw the finest light from the five villages
the smooth surfaces of Yera barely touched
Papados, Plakados, Paleokipos, Skopelos, Messagros
the hand me down jewels of my family history
" But now," he said, " your true face must come
into the light, wholly"
and before I would ever know
a holy word or instinct, to just know
he held what nobody else colud hold
and twisting
with his arms outwardly
he redeemed the abyss of earthly things
and in the form of man:
the void of Death for the Coming Infant
the void of Murder for Just Judgment
the void of sacrifice for Equal Compensation
the void of the Soul for Responsibility Toward Others
And Evening, the plum
of the oldest moon stood
worn away by looking backwards
the remnants of abandoned stone circles and the
guiltless odour of waste, nestled within my
being and altered the faces with the doubt of
shade, adjusting the varnish of my outlooks
My stiff and rigid frame anchored to man
and silence is the only sound
except bottomless thumps, and lament that seethes
and cracks of skin in the mirrors
The scion of what nonexistent race I might be.
It was then that I knew
the ideas of Others
obtuse like the surface of a pearl
sliced me straight through piercing
I witnessed invisble walls in houses
aged ladies passed by, lanterns in their fingers
worry shorn on their foreheads and on the
ceiling and other young men, unshaven, reserved
hands at the hip, ready
for eons now.
" Can you see," he said with authority " you must
acquaint yourself with all the others and not be
led astray, if you desire your legacy to be what
it is now
There will always be opposers and challengers
and many speak with forked mouths, armadillos
and there are The Crude and the Water spiders
the Bread-farers and the Leadenfaced and the Neocondors
the flock and The Rest at the intersecting cross
of the Tetracty's "
" If you think you can handle them," he said
" you will be honed to a diamond and shine,"
he said
" Man your stations and defend," he said
And the One I was truly, the One who for this eternity,
the One steadfast in the quagnire
the One wrapped up in Heaven
overtook all of my senses and, became
who I am
At three o'clock in the early morning
beyond the shantys, aloft and from afar
the cock crowed for the first time
For an instant I beheld the Columns Standing,
the Metope of Awesome Beasts and Man sharing
the God and his truth untouchable
The Sun put on its position, the archangel bound
on my right

This I then
and the glorious infinity.

Interpreted by Kevin Harling.