The Gated Place

[kokopelle]

FROM 2007...  Once in a very blue moon I write some poetry.  I was going through some old papers at my workplace office and I found the following poem I wrote many years ago.  With some tweaking, for your consideration...

The Gated Space

The journey extends far beyond this gated space.
Seeking escape, seeking embrace.
Always the path turned back, returning to this gated space.
Asking when, asking why.

The companions met.
The beautiful seen away from this gated place.
Cannot return to them.
So much phantoms and dust remain upon entering to this gated space

What magic do these gates possess?
That they pull back, that they keep out.
Passage is freely given and no price is asked.
What became of escape? Where is the embrace?

Are these the unasked due taken?
'Given' speaks the Gated Space.

The beginning and the destination reveal the secret.
The journeys are a dream.
The companions and beauties are passing visions.
The gates possess no magic.

For I am not a space.
I am the embrace.
I journey seeking myself, outside of myself.
The mirrors in others reveal the nature of the place.

A sigh of time escaped the lips waiting the returning embrace.
It waits crouching within the guise of the Gated Space.

Comments

[oceans_voice]

I like these lines especially:

I journey seeking myself, outside of myself.
The mirrors in others reveal the nature of the place.

[kokopelle]

Those of some of my favorite lines too!

I am tickled that you saw through the whirling ego of the poem. Now I would love to meet you in person that much more. Those lines are the heart of the poem, and the rest of the poem is the framework for those lines.

The lines that follow (A sigh of time...) speak to my continuing struggle with intimacy, and its role in my life. Spiritually I am aware that intimacy is more than physical, but I have intense struggles with the topic. Going to massage school helped a lot. Social dancing is continuing my journey of awareness. I just wish I could be more happy with it. "A sigh of time escaped the lips waiting the returning embrace."

[oceans_voice]

We often seek ourselves outside of ourselves. That is the whole reason we create separation, suffering, lack of intimacy. We all seem to feel this gaping hole in the center of our being and seek that void to be filled by the people and things around us. But it always seems to lead to separation because no one can do that but us. We have to have the Spirit fill that space. And then true intimacy (into me I see) begins. But people do provide a good mirror. Through them we see ourselves. We see our own mind reflected in them. Because we are only seeing a reflection of our own memories, perceptions, etc. Massage and yoga have helped me a great deal with intimacy and my spiritual growth. I can understand that and I can see how dancing would too.

[oceans_voice]

To be truly intimate with anyone we must be comfortable with ourselves.

[kokopelle]

"To be truly intimate with anyone we must be comfortable with ourselves" <== Too true. My struggle is not helped by the fact that I have insanely strong uncomfortableness with myself.