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Sacred Poetry Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

Commentary on the commentary --
My observations on these poems should not be read as the single, absolute meaning. A poem, like a dream, has layers of meaning -- and that meaning can shift over time and from differing perspectives. My commentary is offered in order to suggest a starting point for you to begin your own exploration into the poem's meaning. Even if my explanation feels right on the mark, please don't stop there. We must discover each poem's meaning for ourselves; otherwise the poem and its explanation remain largely trapped in the intellect. Sacred poetry is transformative poetry. Until we feel a poem working its alchemy on our own awareness, we haven't discovered its heart... -- Ivan

 

Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [15] Sorrow looted this heart
Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [210] When the desire for the Friend became real
Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [316] If you do not give up the crowds
Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [36] Piousness and the path of love
Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [38] A pious one with a hundred beads on your rosary
Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [43] Detached You are, even from your being
Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [65] Love came and emptied me of self
Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said Love came
Abulafia, Rabbi Abraham Circles 4 (from Life of the Future World)
Akha What could be the Other when First is naught?
Akhmatova, Anna A land not mine, still
al-Alawi, Ahmad Layla
Allama Prabhu Light
Allama Prabhu Looking for your light
Ammons, A. R. Poetics
Ammons, A. R. Still
Arapaho (Anonymous) Arapaho Ghost Dance Songs
Attar, Farid ud-Din Invocation
Attar, Farid ud-Din Mysticism
Attar, Farid ud-Din The angels have bowed down to you and drowned
Attar, Farid ud-Din The Dullard Sage
Attar, Farid ud-Din The Lover
Attar, Farid ud-Din The Nightingale
Attar, Farid ud-Din The Simurgh
Aurobindo, Sri The Word of The Silence
Bacharach, Naftali A Poem for the Sefirot as a Wheel of Light
Badakhshani, Binavi Clear Wine
Basava The eating bowl is not one bronze
Basava The pot is a God
Basava The waters of joy
Basava Where they feed the fire
Basho, Matsuo A banana plant in the autumn gale
Basho, Matsuo Come, let's go
Basho, Matsuo Crow's
Basho, Matsuo Year's end
Battacharya, Mahendranath Screening its face amongst lotus stalks
Battacharya, Mahendranath Tell me, what are you doing now, Mind
Bedil, Abdul-Qader Creation's Witness
Bedil, Abdul-Qader His Living Proof
Berry, Wendell Testament
Blake, William Awake! awake O sleeper of the land of shadows (from Jerusalem)
Blake, William The Divine Image
Bradstreet, Anne There is a path no vulture's eye hath seen (from The Vanity of All Worldly Things)
Bulleh Shah Repeating the name of the Beloved
Buson Clinging to the bell
Cavafy, Constantine P. Ithaca
Chikako, Jusammi On this summer night
Ching-Yuen, Loy No use fretting over gold, beauty or fame;
Chinmoy, Sri Flames
Civivakkiyar In bricks and in granite
Civivakkiyar Silence, unmoved and rising
Clare of Assisi Draw me after You!
Clare of Assisi Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!
Clare of Assisi What you hold, may you always hold
Clare of Assisi When You have loved, You shall be chaste
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Reason
cummings, e. e. i thank You God for most this amazing
Dasimayya, Devara Suppose you cut a tall bamboo
Dasimayya, Devara The Hovering One
Dasimayya, Devara To the utterly at-one with Siva
Dasimayya, Devara What can I hurt now
Dasimayya, Devara Whatever It was
Dickinson, Emily [1544] Who has not found the Heaven--below
Dickinson, Emily [172] 'Tis so much joy! 'Tis so much joy!
Dickinson, Emily [322] There came a Day at Summerıs full
Dickinson, Emily [324] Some keep the Sabbath going to the Church ­
Dickinson, Emily [388] Take Your Heaven further on
Dickinson, Emily [508] I'm ceded--I've stopped being Theirs
Dickinson, Emily [642] Me from Myself -- to banish
Dickinson, Emily [774] It is a lonesome Glee
Dogen Ching-ch'ing's raindrop sound
Dogen Impermanence
Dogen In the stream
Dogen One of six verses on snow:
Dogen Wondrous nirvana-mind
Dogen Worship
Eldar Edda (Anonymous) Odin's Shaman Song (from Eldar Edda)
Emre, Yunus True speech is the fruit of not speaking
Emre, Yunus We encountered the house of realization
Farid, Baba Sheikh I thought I was alone who suffered
Feng-kan (Big Stick) Actually there isn't a thing
Feuerstein, Georg Odin's Ordeal
Francis of Assisi Let the whole of mankind tremble
Francis of Assisi The Canticle of Brother Sun
Francis of Assisi The Prayer Before the Crucifix
Galib, Seyh Love is a lamp of God, I am its moth;
Gascoigne, Dame Catherine One thing alone I crave / Unum sit mihi totum
Ghalib, Mirza Let the ascetics sing of the garden of Paradise
Ghalib, Mirza The drop dies in the river
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Ha! A rush of bliss (from Faust)
Govindasvamin Holy sixth day
Granger, Ivan M. Adi Atman 4: stop pushing
Granger, Ivan M. Adi Atman 9: you you
Granger, Ivan M. City Fox
Granger, Ivan M. Every Shaped Thing
Granger, Ivan M. Holy Ground
Granger, Ivan M. How Can I Explain?
Granger, Ivan M. Lime
Granger, Ivan M. Medusa
Granger, Ivan M. Mountain Peaks
Granger, Ivan M. On the way
Granger, Ivan M. Parched
Granger, Ivan M. Prometheus
Granger, Ivan M. Rain Upcountry
Granger, Ivan M. Seeing
Granger, Ivan M. The Warbler Knows
Granger, Ivan M. The World's Cruel Kiss
Granger, Ivan M. Twelve Ways to Lose Your Head on Maui
Granger, Ivan M. white world
Granum Sinapis (Anonymous) Granum Sinapis
Gyatso, Kelsang Little Tiger
Hadewijch All things
Hadewijch Love's constancy
Hadewijch The Queen of Sheba
Hafiz Cupbearer, it is morning, fill my cup with wine
Hafiz If life remains, I shall go back to the tavern
Hafiz Sun Rays
Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) A Still Cup
Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) No Conflict
Hakuin Past, present, future: unattainable
Hakuin The monkey is reaching
Hallaj (al-Hallaj, Mansur) If They Only Knew
Hallaj (al-Hallaj, Mansur) Kill me, my faithful friends
Hallaj (al-Hallaj, Mansur) You glide between the heart and its casing
Hallaj (al-Hallaj, Mansur) Your spirit is mingled with mine

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2009 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.