meditation on kwan yin

[Guest guest]

A Lamentation for the Broken-Hearted

(A Canticle to the Queen of Heaven)

 

Where is she,

she who is there before me always.

When I close my eyes,

or when I open my

heart.

She is already here filling me up with love.

 

You set yourself as a seal upon my heart.

For love is unto death,

But now you have gone away,

and there is nothing that lives as before in my breath.

 

Where are you,

you who came to me in our youth,

when I was young,

and did not know how to laugh.

The early harvest nectar of your singing cries out in these words

 

You set yourself as a seal upon my arm.

For love is forever.

You promised not to go away.

And now there is only emptiness in my days.

 

Why have you,

you have chosen to leave even before our children are gone.

I am stronger than I was,

I now know what it

means to laugh and cry, stumble and run,

to anticipate, yet await patiently the Second Coming.

 

My body is sick for your love.

Your love for me is the sweet wine that lingers in the heart.

It is the distilled soul’s brandy and will not go away.

In your absence my spirit yearns to return to the liqueur of the Godhead.

 

Why are you,

you are choosing to leave the vineyard

ripe with juice.

The grapes are waiting to be crushed.

The bottles are still empty.

Who will lay this vintage down and await the fullness of its sweet joy?

 

In your absence my spirit yearns to return to the liqueur of the Godhead.

My Love for you is the distilled soul’s brandy and improves with time.

It is the sweet wine that ages only in the pure of heart.

My Body is sick for your Love.

 

Why will you,

will you choose to let the grapes ripen and rot?

I am still, waiting for footsteps falling, a holy and shy caress,

the kiss of promise, eternal moments in each other’s arms,

the after of physical ecstasy, the presence of sacramental bliss,

I am still, still and waiting for the juice to ferment into wine.

 

But now there is only Emptiness in my days.

Your promise is become ashes in my mouth.

But Love is Forever,

and it has become a scar on my arm, a wound to the heart.

 

Where are you,

you who have left before the late

harvest of years?

I am not yet old,

I still want to dance and play in the

orchard of sun and stars.

The nectar has turned into vinegar and your silence rings in my deaf ears.

 

And there is Nothing that lives as before in my Breath.

For now you have gone away.

And Love is unto Death,

You set yourself as a Seal upon my Sacred Heart.

 

She is already there who abides with us always.

When we close our eyes,

or when we open our

Hearts.

She is here,

filling us up with Love…

 

Your name, for me, in this my life, remains a secret.

Her everlasting name, for us, from the beginning ‘til the end of time, is Kwan Yin.

 

Hail Mary, Mother of God, Hail Holy Queen,

The Lord is with Thee,

Oh Clement, Oh Loving, Oh Sweet Virgin Mary,

Pray for us now and at the hour of our Death.

 

Amen.

 

 

Mark Christopher Valentine