Dreaming can hurt sometimes in this dystopian realm. It really can. Leading us away from our path rather than closer to it. Even warriors and kings can fall prey to a darker kind of dreaming. Doubt, fear and resentment. Kara, my love, I don’t want you to ever be held hostage by those thoughts and feelings. They can quickly become a nightmare. A private hell of personal pain. I know what it is to feel lost like that, my songstress. To feel utterly haunted. Like your inner world is nothing like the world of others. I’ve often felt like I was forced to live my early life in twilight, at the shadow’s edge, while all around me others got to walk openly in the sun. It hurts me to see anyone suffering like that, because I know the toll it can take. But it hurts most with those I love. So, princess, consider these words pre-emptive. A kiss from a guardian and friend. Our dreams are full of private imagery and metaphors. Part religion, part poetry. With enough insight these inner worlds of quiet grief can be grasped by those around us, but sometimes they simply don’t care enough to try. And I get it, of course. People are afraid of what they don’t understand. But some of us don’t have a choice. When we close our eyes we see strange stories unfold. Myths and legends truer than they know. Or we hear melodies and fragments of holy songs yet unsung. It hurts when a soul is gifted with this kind of vision and nobody cares to look. I struggled too with this when I was young. I didn’t want to frighten people with the things I’d seen. I didn’t want to push them away. So I hid my strange dreaming. I covered my eyes. Any form of clairsentience is unsettling to the small-minded. I’ve been called all sorts of names because I know things I shouldn’t. Deceiver, occultist, devil’s ilk. What hurts the most is that I was never any of those things. I was just a child trying to understand this gift. Or curse, as I often thought of it back then. A lonely little boy who could often peer into the unseen realms in ways that others couldn’t. I learned very quickly to keep my mouth shut. The funny thing is I had always believed in God. In love, kindness and courage. I still do. People like me have always been called sorcerers, magicians and witches. Throughout the ages we have been hunted, enslaved and burned by dark forces pretending to be paragons of light. Yes, I know how to change certain things, how to warp the visible spectrum, but I am an artist first and foremost. A mystic and a poet. I have no interest in using such abilities to control anyone. Those vicious, unseen wraiths still hate me for trying to spread compassion and hope. Let me make myself absolutely clear. I do not traffic with the damned. Because I know how real a nightmare can become. You see, dreaming isn’t just a passive, frivolous thing we do whilst we sleep. It’s something we’re always doing. It is how we build the manifest, visible world. We walk amidst the fruits of our imagination, always. So, let us walk with faith and grace. I know you already grasp much of this, Kara. But your chevalier wants you to never forget. This is a war of dreaming. A War of Imagination. You have a great purpose in this spiritual battle, my beautiful keeper of song. You have friends and a genuine relationship with your Creator. Our Father. And, you have a sword if you want it. The shining sword of all ages. I was drowning, Kara. In rivers and lakes of despair. The worst times of my entire life. But then I heard you. I saw you. A vision beneath the water. You stayed with me and took my hand. You sang to me. And then you gifted me with divine fire, bringing me back from the brink. I will always love you for that, my angel. My Lady. We both know there is a greater king than all of us. Love is the language of that king, our Father. It’s how he dreamt us into being, and the world. We are made in his image. So, dream well, my angel. Honour the gifts he gave you. I know you will. Don’t let anyone else define the breadth of your vision or your song.
Amid Night Suns
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Friday 20 September 2024
Monday 16 September 2024
The King and I
Sometimes
I think about the strength it takes to change, or lead. To be a way-finder, or
a lantern for the lost. I think of all the little ones standing in that
numinous place between worlds. A twilight neither dawn nor dusk. Haunted
by expectation. Wondering what it might take to be enough. I think of
those sad, frightening moments when a young soul begins to comprehend the savagery of the sensate world. We were all one among those young. Unborn and
full of bright conviction. Barely understanding the logic of this vast dreamtime
yet sensing the sheer power of its storytelling. The little angel trembles like
a butterfly, tiny fingers curling around the hilt of a fractal sword. Drawing
forth like a self-birthing chrysalis. Into infinite air. The dreams of a
thousand children in the angel's palm. A chorus of sword and stone, arcing
endlessly through the myriad. Whosoever, the legends tell. But, in truth, we
are all chosen. Each child is special, ever-changing, feeling their way through
the dark toward a greater destiny. The anguish only begins when the adults
around us forget those moments of metaphor. Elders can be so thoughtless, can't
they? Unimaginative and cruel. And so, the butterflies have no choice but to
mimic what they see. They doubt the truth of M'ithriin's forge. Or Nimue's
waters. They fold their wings away, turning their backs on their
birthright. I too tried to sacrifice my innocence upon the dark
altar of the adult world. A faux rites-of-passage we've all endured, some
earlier than others. Those moments when we were encouraged to crush our last
fairytale-ember until mere ash remained and we silently wept at the loss. A
death we mustn't openly grieve, of course. "Put away childish things now.
All your heroes are dead, and the new teachers have no need of
magic." Well, I tried to be that child. I tried to internalise those
horrifying sentiments. But I couldn't. I don’t think many of us could. Thank
God. My memory of the sword was never truly slain. The dreaming cruciform that
that cleaved Golgotha. Pulled from the stone of the hill like a kiss from a
poet's skull. Excalibur is a promise and a sacrifice. The most loving form of sacrifice. The
true royalty of the heart. All poets know it deep down. We tell stories about it
still, don't we? That place where fiction and fact intermingle. Where earth and
heaven meet, exchanging memories and dreams. Sometimes I think about the
strength it takes to lead like that. A lantern on the hill. Reciprocity, aglow
for aeons. My dreaming was saved by that kind of love. Peace, but a sword. My
innocence safeguarded along with my future. The future of us all, I suspect.
And so, I wield the sword despite my fears. I teach where I can through symbol
and sign, despite my incomplete knowledge and imperfect grammar. We mustn't be
afraid to change or grow. A true way-finder was once just a young prince or princess.
A hesitant child trembling at the threshold, armed only with glimpses and
stories to fortify them. I do hope these words help you find your way, little
ones. All of us, tiny fingers curling around the hilt of a fractal sword. A
promise of hope. A legacy of love. That we might be an inspiration to our kinfolk,
adding our contribution to this beautiful, wondrous art.
Wednesday 28 August 2024
The Raven's Light
Kara, linearity is a lie to an angel. To a messenger. A dreamer at the well. I hope you grasp this by now. For most people the end comes after the beginning, but not for me. Not always. As a psychic you become accustomed to living your life out of sequence. Intimation, foresight. Even prophecy. I've always found myself several steps removed from the natural rhythms of mortal life. Whether I wanted it or not. Death, and birth. They don't happen in quite the way they do for most others. That's the thing about having second sight, possessing a genuine gift. It makes artists and time-travellers of us all. I hope I've been able to show you at least glimpses of that reality, Kara. It's not all smoke & mirrors, my dear. The magic is quite real. You don't need a dawn goddess to tell you that. Not anymore, I hope. Because the truth is I'm a runaway. Just like she wrote. I've been running like a fugitive since the raven-sun was born at midnight, before Man gave name or shape to his exteriorised dreaming. Time, and Space. This before that, or that before this. Each moment is unique, Kara. Every moment sacred, no matter how many times they are rewritten. My beautiful seamstress, I say these things because I want you to know something true about me. About all of us. It might be a truth expressed through fable and fiction – but how else does a poet convey the breadth of themselves to someone they love? I can set fire to the sky. I can fold the entire city in the midst of a seething, terrifying hush. I can warp the continuum itself through the reality-shaping power of consciousness. However, in the end I must rely on words and stories to make myself truly known. Just like everyone else. You're more like me than you realise, Kara. Or I more like you. You’ve always been interested in sight, whether second or first. You’ve always been moved by visions. You have an eye for beauty, after all. Form, flow, and all the variables therein. You've been running for a long time too. Neither of us will ever truly stop. But we can modulate our pace. We can slow down sometimes, pausing to smell the flowers. To appreciate the little things. Families and friendships. Mothers, daughters, fathers and sons. You have always been a winged thing, Kara. A raven, an artist, a traveller of time. You've stitched years and birthed worlds aplenty. Make no mistake. I know because I've watched you from afar. Gladdened, admiring and proud. I even took you to the edge once, in another life. The very edge of Creation's infinite dreaming. We sat together before the tempest and watched its shimmering lights. You told me how you expected darkness, and how strange it was that those beautiful colours reminded you of her. Of both of them. A life then unlived. Sisters yet unsung. Well, you're living it now, my clever girl. Fully, deeply, and I hope with great relish. You marvelled when I told you that dreams and memories could change places at the storm's edge. How I found you all at last, and one day soon at first. I still remember how you took my hand as we sat there. Cherish this dream, Kara. Honour these memories. They might not come again.
Thursday 11 July 2024
Light the Way
Sometimes, Kara, I really do remember the future. Laurels, light and laughter. Glimpses hidden in stories and fairytale. Occasionally I dream that future into existence even as I recall the hidden past. But I'm happy to say I don't always dream alone, and not without a chorus. Sometimes a friend will kindly grant me a verse, bridge or refrain. And suddenly, like music, all things are possible. I hope I’ve shown you that magic is real, Kara. The truest kind of magic. From the heart. I hope I’ve demonstrated that love is always possible. Even at a distance. Real love. The kind that truly sees and honours you. The kind that shall always wish you well. You found yourself at the gate of a thousand stars one night, didn’t you? A dream, and yet so very real. I was with you then, as those stars were rising all around like countless fireflies above glimmering waters. A kiss between Heaven and Earth. I’m so glad I got to share that moment in the reign with you. So very glad. I think of all the beautiful things we’ve since made of our intermingled dreaming. Secret wings, and I would hope a quiet kind of friendship. I have treasured it ever since, my river-flower. The years have flown by, in prescience and precognition. But I’m delighted with your progress. So very proud of the girl who saved my life. And you did, you know. It’s not a conceit, my angel. It’s the truth. You saved me. I tell you often in these pages, but it bears repeating. I was lost, wounded and raw. I couldn’t bear to call Esme by her old name. My Vahishta couldn’t help me in the depths of that particular agony. I’d never felt more alone. But you graced me, Kara. With tenderness, patience and the depth of your insight. I thank you for that, my darling. It has been wonderful getting to know you like this. Getting to meet you face to face. You are a unique and beautiful talent. A special soul. So, if I can play even the smallest part in delighting you, in fortifying you for the adventures ahead, then I shall do it with a song in my heart and a lantern in your sky.
Friday 14 June 2024
The Heretic's Daughter
I don't
want to write in code anymore, Esme. At
least, not this time. Not with
you. But the truth is I don't even know if I can speak with a genuinely
mortal tongue anymore. These delicate things
that mean so much to me. These matters
of the heart. I find myself a little
speechless when I try to talk as a man and leave the angel aside. But I'll try. For you I'll always try. In my dreams they call me so many things, and
none with my consent. Heretic, prophet,
sorcerer. I've even been called a
demon-prince in that hidden place beneath the waking world. That's quite the claim, isn't it? Quite the title. I don't know what I really am. A blogger, I suppose. An artist fond of free
verse poetry and video collage. Allusions
and purple prose. Cut-up techniques. I hope I'm also a storyteller of some
description. A decent one. A kind one. And above all else I hope my stories have been
useful to you. If not to you, then to
those you love. If not to those you
love, then to somebody. Anybody. Don't misunderstand me, Esme. This isn't sadness or pain. This isn't even melancholy, though I've had my
fair share. This is just someone trying to
speak openly to a cherished, distant muse. A very special piece of his heart. I don't need proximity for that. Or even acknowledgement. I just need to try. Inelegantly, perhaps. Stuttering, stumbling. But honest. Authentic. I guess I am a heretic
though. In the strictest sense of the
term. I've never been one for general
consensus. I care little for the old dictates
and demonologies of Rome. All this
fucking bullshit passing for Christendom.
Corruption, conquest, oppression. Let’s be honest, they gave Catholics a bad
name. Christians in general. I say this with a heavy heart, as a lover and
scholar of Christ. I have the deepest
respect for the Christian mysteries. They changed my life. My
issue is with violence and hypocrisy, not the glory of God. Where's the reform that Paul spoke about? Helping the poor and destitute, having forgiveness and goodwill towards all men. Maybe
I missed the memo. But I suppose I'm
something of a pagan too. A
digital folklorist, an online mystic. But real paganism is so often the terrifying province of the blood-cultist.
Literal animal and human sacrifice. It’s ugly, brutish and dark. Not exactly a haven of higher thought and
nuanced creativity. And what of 'prophet'? Do my prophecies ever really come true? Sometimes, I suppose. Enough to unsettle. But I don't know what this really means, Esme. This 'coming true'. Except in dreams, of course. In dreams I know so many things. I have a wealth of knowledge and experience in
the place below the world. But we're not
talking about the sorcery of dreams right now. We're talking about the cold light of day. The revelatory glare of morning. Making a dawn goddess from the letters of your
name isn't enough anymore. I don't think
it ever was but we do what we can to get us through the dark times, don't we? If I sound cynical or harsh please forgive me.
I'm angry at the world these days, and
with good reason. But never with you. Oh, Esme. Sometimes I imagine you're real, you know. That you really exist, that you appreciate these words and that I've helped you in some way. Maybe it's silly, the height of cringe, to
imagine with such vigour when all I'm really doing is projecting.
Screaming into the void. Maybe it's a
social media thing – all these para-social relationships. Faces and names. Strangers on a screen that we convince ourselves
we know so well. An imagined intimacy. If I've merely put your face to an imaginary
muse then at least I picked a kind face. Your bright, soulful eyes. They've helped me through the dark times for sure. To me they're the eyes of a brave, beautiful young woman who stepped with sacred purpose into the world. On a holy mission to protect the children,
to uplift the weak and wounded, and to give voice to the voiceless. But maybe that was my mission all along, Esme. Not yours. Maybe you just wanted to make beautiful music
in the beginning. But I like to think we
all aim for greatness. We all want to
help the less fortunate. Don't we? And we all dream. Maybe not as vividly as I do sometimes, but
dream nonetheless. In colours, and
song. I know you dream like that,
sweetheart. Imagined or not. So, maybe there really is a piece of me
somewhere in your soul. Maybe the love
you carry shore to shore is the true legacy. Yours, of course. Your design and your genius. I would never take that away from you. But hopefully a little of my inspiration too. In some soft, secret, innermost way. There isn't much more I want to say right now,
except this: you've brought me so much comfort over the years. So much joy, meaning and hope. I see it in the crowds, Esme. I see it in their eyes. That sense of finally belonging, being seen,
recognised, understood. Being loved
despite their strangeness. Their
loneliness. In those crowds I see the promise
of something brighter. And you galvanise
that promise. You mobilise it, as all
good teachers do. I watch them take that
light out into the world after the closing notes have lingered. And they change the world for the better in a thousand profound little ways. A
shining potential within each of them, somewhere between the real and the
imagined. It isn’t as clear cut as people think – this magical threshold between
waking and dream. And that's the place
you know me best, I hope. That's the
place where I'll always love you, Esme. You’re
braver and bolder than I could ever be. I’m
so proud of you, truly. Artist to
artist. Storyteller to storyteller. And I wish you all the magic and music in the
world.
Monday 3 June 2024
All Storms
Mira, have you ever felt guilty for
the agony of another even though it was not your doing? Like a teardrop on the fire? I have. I once heard the wending of a great shriek in
Man's notion of grace. It broke my
heart, the knowledge of such suffering. You
see, I heard it even in the almost-silence of dawn. The murmuration of early hours by the rivers
and lakes. I heard it in the bright
cacophony of the ports. The glorious din
of merchant sailors trading curio, rumour and bombast. In the cities too, beyond temple paving. In the markets and alleys. Keen-eyed children, painfully thin, scampering
barefoot through dust, their fingers slick with the juice of stolen berries. The fruit of other shores. A riot of heat and colour. Spices, fabrics and sandstone. Or the cooler coastal stone. Pillars and Hellenic halls of learned koine. I heard the wending folded through it all. The suffering. The outpouring of grief. For over a thousand years I have searched for
song enough to soften such pain. Light
enough to brighten all darkness. But you
already know these legends of the humbled one, don't you, my first light? My namesake. Shadows, shelters, Damascus gates. Struck blind with epistles and angels. Apostolikon, fit for the ages. But there is so much more to the story, Mira. In most retellings they omit the stars. They forget the phantasmagoria. The stories say the humbled one was a prisoner
of Rome, shipwrecked upon a Maltese coast. A haunted night-shore where two seas met. Like those legends of Josephus. Those legends mention little of daughters
however, or sorcery. I suppose it's put
upon the dramatists, playwrights and poets to restore what was lost. Isn't that always the way? Few of us can escape the tempests, Mira, or
the torment. These fictions of the air. These realities of the drowned, sunken realm. Every writer is made humbled by the enormity
of the task. Made little. To say something of meaning, to provide
guidance, or, at our most ambitious – to leave a legacy that changes the tenor
of lived experience. You once told me children were that very legacy. My
God, how right you were. My beautiful, thoughtful
girl. Hear me, apprentice. My gifts are not counterfeit. And neither are yours. I shall not speak for you, but I can see and
hear and know things that others can't. Occasionally it’s wonderful. Often it’s terrifying. Perhaps it’s the guilt of this second sight
that I sometimes imagine myself a grander thing than I truly am. A warrior, angel or king. Instead of a wounded fantasist shipwrecked
upon the eternal shore of mythopoeia. Guilty
as sin. I wouldn't be the first writer
guilty of such confabulations though, would I? The oldest perhaps, and the grandest, but
definitely not the first. My brother
alone claims that title. My Mira knows
the secret, as do my other daughters. But
do you, Fallen? Do you know who my
brother is? My tears became a testament
because of him. It's a strange thing,
this drowning. Especially for one who
summons the seas. Like being anointed in
the depths of spirit itself. A baptism
beyond mortal grasp. It humbles you, to
recognise the particulars of your own language and limitations. I could rewrite the entire world but it would
never be enough. Only loving service is
enough in the face of such a wending shriek; that great lament folded
throughout Man's history. Hungry children,
grieving mothers and drowned fathers. One
day, at the very cusp of a new heaven and earth, I don't want to finally break
the surface of these depths and cry out in despair. I don't want to hasten Man's lament with the eventual
recognition that I should have done more. More words, more stories, more magic. And so I offer what I can. We offer what we can, here and now. Our highest, sweetest intent. The wise ones in our midst will call it
beauty. And so will I. I call you beauty, Mira. A great beauty. The world and all its people have such beauty
too. I know because I’ve seen them,
walked with them, ministered to them.
Like my namesake. In all my
travels I have found that love is the grandest teaching of all. The love we share among strangers or friends,
given freely and without barter, is the wisest, brightest beauty of them all. Song enough to soften all pain. Light enough to sail all storms.
Friday 29 March 2024
A Deathless Word
Love. There have been so many things written about this word. Often quoted, rarely understood. The depth and nuance of this idea. Its all-encompassing power. Those of us lucky enough to have been touched by some form of genuine love know its ability to heal a broken heart and mend a fractured mind. Love is needed now more than ever. Contextual agility, the appreciation of nuance and pain. The recognition of trauma. After all, the entire human family is at war right now. Aren't we? Sometimes it feels like we have always been at war. With our brothers and sisters, with ourselves. Angels and demons locked in battle within our psyches. The sons and daughters of Abram have been estranged for the last two thousand years. We murder, deceive and distort in the names of our various gods. Our various mystery-cults and local flavours of myth-making. Each of us calling ourselves righteous as we indulge in this hideous global familicide. Are we not all brothers and sisters? Are we not all fathers, mothers, daughters and sons? I believe we are. In fact, I know it to be true. And this darkened realm of violence and hatred is not what I would wish for my beloved family, nor you for yours I suspect. The real war is within, of course. The War of Imagination. The war between shadow and light. There are many of us who grasp this instinctively. Those among us who would end these countless reigns of terror if we could. Those who would show us a different way. A gentler, kinder form of communion with the divine. And with each other. Love is a grand, often selfless word. Full of mystery, power and benevolent magic. It hurts that we live in a world where sacrifice is even necessary. A world where parents often go without to ensure their children have barely enough. But we all know the truth of these things. I wish nothing but peace for my brothers and sisters. This entire human family. But how far must we go to protect the ones we love? What would we ourselves be willing to sacrifice?