(From a recent workshop)

TRANSMUTED


In a shaded alcove
stands a crew-cut boy,
gangly-legged and shy,
trembling with emotion -
tear-red puffiness
around each eye,

who looks to me for comfort
as I peer into his dream
through the mirror's glass
and wonder if
this God forsaken night
will ever pass

and why
I find myself attracted
to the lonesome place again,
smothered by the darkness
of an ancient pain.

He seems so frail, so helpless;
as I study him, I know
that childhood wants an ending
and time has come to grow.
So,
I wish a wish for magic,
wish a wish for light
and see the child mature
to a wizard robed in white

who is standing like a statue,
totem staff in hand,
emitting great vibrations
that say: "now, I am a man."

And, shaken to awareness,
sobbing with release,
a change of tidal washing
mixing patterns underneath,

I strain to breathe this freshness,
fill my lungs with joy
to burn with new-found Power
from the Master
in the boy