Victor Henry- Three Poems

EVERYTHING HAPPENS IN PURE LIGHT

You are taught from childhood into adulthood
You are separate from others.

As you get older, somewhat damaged and distrustful,
You seek enlightenment. Even pay money
To the next guru claiming to have the answer.
Believe that once you find the truth you will magically awaken.

But one night, while walking in the rain,
You discover there is nothing to awaken from.
There is only the illusion of being me
Who can’t find the light.

You have been searching for something out there
When it has always been there,
Inside you,
the story of yourself.

You use your intuitional wisdom,
Learn life is the pure light of unconditional love.
When awakening happens
You realize there is no such thing as separateness,

And in a moment of clarity,
You recognize we are all connected.

Wonder how and why you were so ignorant before.

HOW DOES A MAN TELL A WOMAN

Is it with a bluish brush stroke from Renoir’s In the Garden that we arrive at the answer?
In the painting the young man appears bereft, trying to communicate with the young lady.
We ask, as viewers, who is the young woman looking at?
He’s given her a bouquet of flowers, which now lies across the table, drying out in the midday sun.
He holds her hand clasped in his hand, locked in a V position, chin high, as if he is about to

wrestle with her for the prize, the rest of his life with her, a life he can’t do without.
The viewer, now engaged as voyeur, feels the tension in this clash of disparate moments.
No doubt, he’s desperate. Knows this isn’t a game of croquet. 
She has him reeling in a loss of words.  He hears his breath exiting rapidly. He’s tense and in pain.

This is not how he envisioned it ending.
Behind them, flowers fill the hilly landscape. Fill the air with a sweet fragrance of spring. 

Poison to her. Heaven to him.
Nevertheless, something has gone awry. Is it something he said or she said?
Or something, possibly, beyond their grasp?

PAST LIFETIMES

A sensitive and caring man, so sure of his love for a woman, contacts a medium, whom he hopes will shed light on why he has such strong feelings for her, feelings that emanate from his mind, his heart, his soul. It was love at first sight.  He remembers the moment exactly. Love came through his eyes and into his heart. There was no way he could tell her, without her thinking he was silly and puerile. He tells the medium nothing about the woman he has great respect and passion for.  The medium asks only for her first name.  The man waits in nervous expectation, waits to hear the truth communicated from another dimension. The words tumble out of the medium’s mouth like an echo from somewhere far, far away.  The medium says, You are soul mates, but she doesn’t realize it yet.  She’s been hurt in a recent relationship.  She’s lost trust, lost her will to communicate. You’re connected. You’ve been lovers in past lifetimes.  He understands the force of the primal urge, understands they have come together as waters meet, as seasons arrive, as new galaxies in the universe are discovered.  He knows there is no love, there is only loving.  He knows loving is the promise of ourselves to ourselves that we must keep.  That his love for her is unconditional. Now he knows the unknown.  Without words, without even understanding, he knows lovers find each other in each other.