Poetry: R. L. Boyer

R. L. Boyer

Black Hole

 

only 26 million light years away an

impenetrable mystery lies waiting

at the floating hub of the milky way

an immense darkness squats invisibly

at the center of our galaxy gobbling up

ancient stars while others speed by at

velocities of 20 million miles per hour

like young gazelles outracing – if only

for a moment – the fearsome grasp of

lions as the great and luminous galaxy

wheels round its pivot like a great

spinning disk made of stars spiraling

majestically through the vast spaces of

            endless night.

 

that hole birthed timeless ages ago when

some giant star collapsed inwardly

upon itself and every 100,000 years or so

it has gobbled up some ancient neighbor

until its dark womb has swollen so dense

with the weight of 3 billion suns that its

gravity lets nothing escape its grasp ...

nothing! not even light not even great

spinning wheels made of suns on the

other side perhaps some other world is

growing in the great mouth of that

utterly unutterable mystery slowly

devouring everything as inexorably as

fate the giant insatiable maw of Death

feeding on worlds until the very end of

            Time …

 

(and if you listen closely with the ears

of astronomers you can hear it singing

a cosmic hum in B flat the lowest note

            in this universe.)

# # #

 

Something

 

     Standing in wonder before this Mystery is

     the source of all true art and true science.

     –Albert Einstein

 

something

yet not a thing

            formless and

            immense

beginningless

without end

            all worlds

            stretched out

upon the limitless

abyss like

            jewels

            upon a string

invisible

unity-in-

            diversity

            formless void

of mind

non-existent

            womb of all

            possibilities

mother and

father

            of all things

            living

primordial and

immense

            silent

            true nature

unborn

never dying

            beginningless

            without end ...

# # #

 

In Vain

 

i sought you in the stars at night

and in the morning dew

i sought you in the pale moonlight

and in the sunrise, too

 

i sought you in the armor's clang

and in the human race

i sought you in the serpent's fang

and in the mirrored face

 

i sought you in the cloud-swept moon

and in the candlelight

i sought you in the song of loons

and in the dead of night

                                               

i sought you in political schemes

and in the great oak tree

i sought you in the madman's dreams

and in the depths of the sea

                                               

i sought you in the midnight fire

and in the great and small

i sought you in the rose and briar

and in the rise and fall

 

i sought you in the summit's height

and in my mother's womb

i sought you in the eagle's flight

and in my father's tomb

                                               

i sought you in the battle din

and in the songs of bees

i sought you in the voice of the wind

singing through the cottonwood trees

                                               

i sought you in the summer heat

and in the gentle rain

i sought you through the whole wide world ...

i sought for you in vain -- in vain!

 

            i sought for you ... in vain.

# # #

 

The Tree of Immortality

 

                        Come, return to the root

                        of the root of your Self.

                        --Rumi

 

There is a power at the center of Being.

Some call it the Treasure Hard to Attain,

 

A Horn of Plenty, The Fountain of Youth,

A Pearl of Great Price, The Philosopher's Stone,

 

The Wish-fulfilling Gem, Womb of the Mothers,

The Water and the Life. Its names as inexhaustible

 

as Nature, and you and I grow out of It like

ripening fruit–like delicious golden apples!

 

I call it Paradise, the Tree of Immortality.

 

Find the hidden root, says the Oracle,

and follow it to the Source.

# # #

 

Bio: R. L. Boyer is a 7th year doctoral student in the arts and religion program at the
Graduate Theological Union and UC Berkeley. He holds an MA in Depth Psychology
from Sonoma State University and is a graduate of the Professional Program in
Screenwriting from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Ron is the
recipient of many competitive awards as a poet, author of short fiction, and screenwriter.

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Setu, July 2023