POEMS OF

LOVE & SPIRIT

Words & Photography By

Gordon Artrias Rosenberg
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
2.5 License.

2006 Gordon Rosenberg

You may also download a copy of this manuscript for free at
http://lightreport.org
 About the Author

Gordon Artrias Rosenberg is a student of Taoism, Hinduism and other Eastern

philosophies. His writings follow these paths, including his poetry, his
metaphysical and healing arts essays, and his book-length teaching
manuscripts. Gordon is also an avid digital photographer and took the pictures
in this book (with the exception of the dolphin clip art). He’s a native of the
picturesque Pacific Northwest, now living in Bend, Oregon with his wife and
creative partner, Debby Rosenberg. You may find links to their poetry, photos,
videos and other creative work at their main site http://lightreport.org.
 DOLPHIN LOVE
To love as dolphin loves
Without trying or holding back
Without worrying which way
May be right or wrong

Dolphin loves because love exists

Gives because giving is the only way
Dolphin loves as love is intended
Knowing all else is not real love

This is how dolphin loves

And it’s how we can love
For we too are capable
Of loving in spirit

MUSE
Sharing our lives with conscious intention
Guiding one another through our final ascension
Loving each other and all who have given
Rise to their lives with souls that have risen
Bound I to discover, life’s best done in twos
For you are my lover, and you are my muse
 TIMELESS
Falling nightly
Into your arms
Elsewhere nevermore
Soft whispers in willing ears
Passionate embraces
Knowing caresses
Like this forever

TEMPEST
Smoke it stroke it hold on tight
Brave a storm that lasts all night
On mast of passion sails unfurled
Against the blow my toes are curled
 Rapture Once More
Bodies and souls awakened so deep
After so many years of being asleep
Electric we flow in the deepest embrace
‘Tis clear we’ve found a new kind of grace

Once again children we are at play in a field

Our once innocent hearts longing to be healed
As if by chance to have discovered the other
And merged so fully with one’s ultimate lover

The wilds they beckon, our beings run free

Through tame-less landscapes long forbidden to see
Passion once restricted, restricted no more
Caution torn asunder, hidden worlds to explore

Slumbering dragon within alit by your touch

Divine feminine spirit that heals me so much
Brought home we are to our own higher power
As we love each other in this most sacred hour
 TRANSFORMERS
Transformers of light
Reveal to my sight
This new force has come
To share source as one

Wherever it shines
All lives intertwine
Gives pause to wonder
Why be any other

Revealers of sight
Bring light to the night
 CURRENT EVENTS
Life but a passing story played out
On a screen in front of my eyes
While what’s really significant
Goes unnoticed behind the screen

There’s nothing here to do or be

But be oneself and nothing more
To believe one must do anything
Is to be caught in a trap of delusion

Once out of this trap to become

What’s behind the screen and see
Current affairs as only passing fancies
Temporal and with no permanent bearing
 BORN TO LOVE
The heart yearns to love
The mind thinks it must choose
The heart loves everyone
The mind seeks one or few
The heart must have its way
To find a love that’s true

REAL FOR ME
To find one’s truths
Among illusions
To make one’s way
To higher peace
To discover love
And lasting bliss
To thrive on nature
Music and spirit
There is no more
Of any meaning
And nothing else
Which moves my soul
 CHAKRA DREAM
Spinning wheels of color and light
Bring ancient memory to our sight
Remember now what we’ve forgot
Create once more with pure thought
Spinning wheels of color and light
Awaken us from this dark, dark night

BLISS
No matter now how long I slept
‘Tis love which fills my every step
Love and joy and truth and bliss
All that’s real I know as this

It matters not what’s to come

Where I’m bound or where I’m from
Time to share what’s been found
Share the love ‘round and ‘round
Share love with all ‘round and ‘round
 NIGHT
‘Tis at night my soul comes to play
Free of the duties that fill each day
When in the space of living my dreams
I see clearly life and all that it means

Truth it comes in the midst of dark nights

Beyond the place of wrongs and rights
Joined by those who help me do what I do
‘Cause they’ve been here and they’ve done it too

‘Tis then they provide what I think I may need

To follow my path and sometimes to lead
In the light of night where I am in full sight
They return the love that I’ve come to dream of

The night is my refuge from the trials of day

A time to recover from the life prices I pay
 DUELING SELVES
One self but wants to gaily frolic
Partake of maidens and earthly delights
Dance the melodies of this world
Play with all that comes my way

Another leaves behind this trivia

Dives deep into life’s passion and pain
To seek all that’s felt and linger there
To know answers which can’t be known

Why both selves when one would do

Neither gives in to ease this life
What cruel joke to reconcile these foes
Within this single helpless human form

How to choose or make peace

Of the mirth and melancholy
To find a way to play with truth
Or feel the joy found deep inside
 POET
What strange compulsion this
To pen the truth in the soul
More than sound and form
Speak the heart or not at all

What inspires this telling

What magic there is in it
What tension to say it right
What beauty it happens at all

Will I know ever why I must

Will I someday tire of it forever
Perhaps ‘tis simply mine to do
Relevant as any other way here
 SEAWARD
Tiny ships upon the waves
In many clusters drifting
At the edge of the ocean
Aware the tide is shifting

While waiting out the night

Though much may be confusing
These dedicated sailors
Know all is of their choosing

They’ve left the docile harbor

Where the focus is survive
Out on the churning waters
Their souls have come alive

Never more shall they fail

Never again will they fall
This fleet of peace awaiting
Dawn’s certain coming call

Their course is newly charted

They’ll cross the bar together
Put to the seas united
Fear not the stormy weather

These ships of love and plenty

Have made ready to depart
Across that far horizon
To help launch a brand new start
 CHILD
I looked at her and smiled
Face so kind on such a child
She waited there so patiently
As learned I what might I see
Then merrily she went in time
For me to now my own way find

WHAT IS
When I was young
So much I knew
Now I’m old
And have no clue

All that’s done

Or never was
Whatever is
Seems just because

So fine is this
To be in touch
Have no more need
To know so much
 NOW WE’RE HERE
‘Tis said we are gathering
Magically merging as one
Called here to be part of
Great beauty to come

Can you not feel it

Something more real
Will you help set the table
For a plentiful meal

Where has your life been

And where are you bound
Can you ride out despair
‘Til there’s joy all around

Can you take time now

To find your way home
Or is this too much
Do you feel all alone

Need you always respond

To the whims of this place
Does it matter which rat
Wins or loses the race

Co-create with others

What we’ve only foreseen
Or go on your way
Knowing not what we mean

‘Tis time now to know

What’s coming our way
For within each of us
There dawns a new day
 TANTRA SONG
In this moment of pure joy and expression
I take you to my heart, into my essence
I welcome you now as never another
You, my only, my one tantric lover

I am in you and you are in me

Merged as one as ever could be
Growing deeply within a radiant light
Such bountiful joy and loving delight

As if in tune with all of creation

Loving this way beyond even sensation
My depth of feeling and knowing so much
Coming from you and your loving touch
 Awaken this moment in the grace of what is
Nothing that’s hers, nothing that’s his
But one in the glow of all that surrounds
One with our touch, one with our sounds

Are you seeing me as I’m seeing you

Never have I seen a sight so true
No way here of ever pretending
Are we at our beginning or ending

Tantra exploding, energy abounding

Feeling the joy that’s clearly resounding
Love comes once and now comes again
Finding our way to where we have been

My energy with yours brings forth what exists

With each gentle movement and each sensuous kiss
You are my essence and I am yours too
Inside your form part of me is now you

Move we together, one with all life

Spirits loving, true husband and wife
Beyond need to make love by decree
Passion now rising degree by degree

Oh, such love can never be wrong

To find each other after waiting so long
Never before a love of this kind
Then only love that’s more in the mind

This joy of tantra and total devotion

Filling us with light as large as an ocean
Building together with a power and force
Of two who’ve found loving straight from its source
Yes, we’ve found love which comes straight from Source
 ALONE
There’s a place we take no one
Where only we may dwell
‘Tis there we find our truth
Which we alone may tell

ONWARD
Now in just the nickest time
All that was is left behind
Forth I go in ways unknown
Unafraid to walk alone
 TWO SEEKERS
Two seekers they were
Long on the road
In search of each other
Beyond all they were told

Now it’s complete

Now they are done
With past ways of being
Now they are one

No more the old ways

No more are they lost
Wondering why life
Must be lived at such cost

Once pain is dismissed

And passion commands
When right choices we make
Bring an outcome so grand
 UNSEEN
What some believe, for me can't be
That truth is what we touch or see
While on this earth there is a lot
That's not real, I’ve always thought
No way can be this world of stuff
So much less seems quite enough

See for yourself, if you dare

Planes and pictures fly through air
Entire songs on pods and spheres
Technology that sees and hears
Your voice by phone across the land
More planets above than grains of sand

Nature around us, I can only admire

If I said I knew, I’d be a lair
My own body, which I’ve no clue
Billions of actions, happening on cue
These are things, I know can’t exist
Yet existence itself is hard to resist

For here we are, and it all seems real

So why not more that’s hiding still
Simple things, by others unseen
Learned where I am, or where I’ve been
Like loving each other, becoming awake
The impossible I think, is a piece o’ cake
 THE CALL
In the midst of chaos and despair comes change
Change which signals the end of all old ways
And lays a path for shining new days to come
A path which reflects a new reality of Love and Light
We have put out the call and it has been heard

We are as One against the dying forces of darkness

We shine as Light unto those who would silence us
And who would destroy all that we’ve worked for
We shall not be silenced and it shall not be destroyed
The call has been made and We are its answer

It is now said and so shall it be

 STATUS QUO
Is man but a distant memory
One of history’s passing blurs
Yet to notice the timely demise
Of a way we never were

When this way we came as light

Did our human parts even know
What really were we doing here
And when we’d decide to go

Is our true task to not maintain

The silly status of our breed
But let all go on as planned
That we light beings shall succeed

Are we all from distant stars

Through eons of empty space
To transcend our current state
As light itself engulfs this place
 PERFECT LOVE

Would I be loved for who I am

Flaws I have yet if others can
Hear beneath my fear and pain
Love’s laughter come forth again

Need I be perfect to be loved

Must my whole life be overdubbed
May I be seen and not forsaken
Love given freely and freely taken

May I be seen and not forsaken

Give me your love and it will be taken

FORGIVEN
For all they did or didn’t
And all that was or wasn’t
For that which brought me here
And for myself for coming

Forgive now every wrong

Make this life a song
Free the soul to play
And love myself today

’Tis simple now to say

For I have found my way
 WAY
There come the coming times
For which we have been waiting
After all the years of slumber
‘Tis said that we are waking

Through the chaos and the strife

Past all that’s known or seen
Forever is a new way found
To a place we’ve never been

For in the coming times

We’ve no choice but waking
 BEGIN ANEW
I wear another’s face
Take another’s place
Claim use of that name
Things change or stay the same
For in the greater scheme
Life is but a dream

Though I don’t pretend

This too shall never end
Each time I come and go
There’s less and less to know
For in the greater scheme
Life is but a dream

All the ways I’ve been

I need be not again
I wear another’s face
Step now in his place
For in the greater scheme
Each life is but a dream
 DREAM WORLD
Unreal is this world in which I walk
For in the real world there is but joy,
There is but love,
There is but shining light

The darkness of my phony world

I can not comprehend,
For ‘tis deception that darkness shall prevail
O’er the light which shall encompass all

Can I but see the light within

Which never has been other;
Can I but see what always was
And give up the past and its delusions

Can I but know there’s no way to be

Than the gentle wisdom in my soul
 BLESSING
May I freely walk in peace
Be love and know not fear
Leave all said and done
When it’s time to say and go

Let all speak as they will

Yet know there’s always more
Than what ever can be said
And what often goes unsaid

May I focus on joy

See beyond the rest
Know truth when I find it
And home when it comes my way

More I cannot wish myself

Less I’ll not accept again
 THREE CHANCES
Thrice I come
And knock upon your gate
Thrice you refuse
And send me on my way

Would you allow me entrance

To your private sanctum
You’d find your trials over
And our ways would part no more

Yet in your drunkenness

You see not what I offer
And go forth in your mist
While I find others to awaken
 DIVINE UNION
Observing a pair of downy woodpeckers at my feeder
I’ve discovered they often feed each other
Sometimes going a distance to place a morsel in the other’s beak
I’ve read this is fairly common behavior in the bird kingdom
And wonder if there’s a lesson here for us humans
That rather than all the fuss and bother in relationship
Trying to have our space, get our own needs met, and the like
Often perhaps acting rather selfishly in the process
That we simply focus on whatever nourishes the other
And might thereby serve the both of us
 THRESHOLD
Small step
Through the door
Big step
Forevermore
Many steps
Says the lore
Make a path
To one’s core

SERVICE
What better to be here
Than in service to all
The form matters not
Let source flow through
And serve each as it will
Only because it’s ours to do
 SILENCE IN THE WIND
In nature I find the answers
Which no one else can give;
That we hold the truth inside us
How to be and live.

Is the need for constant chatter,

To respond to every word,
Only to distract ourselves
From what really need be heard?

Why a need to say out loud

And have others give reply;
Who could ever comment on
What’s told by sea and sky?

So much for us to learn

While listening to a creek;
How to sit by silently,
Oh, tell me what you speak
 In the chanting of the cricket
Conversing of the bird
The croaking of the frog
So much that can be heard

Oh, would I give up need to speak

Truly nothing can be said
Would improve the voice of nature
Yet these words play through my head

They beg be written down like this

And shared with others from within
Yet a well-turned phrase need no reply
Like speaking to the wind

The force which brings us here,

Offers beauty and such grace
What would be if we but hear
The silent wisdom of this place

The truth which is within us

The only voice we can not doubt
Listen to that voice our own
And learn what we’re about

Bring forth the force of nature

Which has always been inside
Waiting for us to hear it
Once we still the voice of pride

For there is no way to part

From one’s self and all our kingdom
Once we find our way back home
To the place where lives our freedom
May nature’s grace take us back to freedom
 FUTURE
While walk I through the night
See once more with clearing sight
Am I but what I’ve always been
Or will I be what new comes in

Where I’ve gone but never toiled

All old plans are duly foiled
For now the new is all there is
And all the rest is done again

Whereas are there but nevermore

The plans of one who’s gone before
Now one sees in every sense
That no old ways hold relevance

Gone the days of thinking less

To simply get one through this mess
It all need not be torn asunder
But for them left to plow one day under

We can go where each we’re bound

No more need to bring one down
The rest is left to merge with grace
For who by choice transcend this place
For who by choice transcend this place
 EVER MORE
In a once and ever when
I am there and it is then
Come so far to be here now
So little done for learning how

Knowing more is knowing less

Surrender now and know the rest
Change of ways ‘tis here at hand
‘Cause change is the way of man

To hold forth in wisdom full

Truth is all we’ll ever know
When live we do at our core
And all the other we ignore

Spiraling on we go as one
Where for ever more all is none
 COURAGE
Those who choose love over anger and fear
Are the true courageous ones;
The path of love knows no retreat
And is not for the faint of heart

On the front lines of one’s emotions

The lover faces the terror of seeing all,
Leaving no stone unturned, no story untold, no demon untamed
In the pursuit of love at all costs

Standing alone in the name of undisguised love,

Even when no one stands with us,
Comes not easy in a world which knows more
Of hate and violence and fear and pain than love

Standing in its name is the real challenge of love

And the path to one’s greatest glory
 BRIDGE
Just touching down in a land I’m soon bound
Can’t help believing I won’t miss the leaving
Can’t even be clear if I’m there or still here
When will I go or do I even need know
For time it is never on both sides of forever
Yes, time it is never as we walk both sides of forever
 SEEKING HEART

To travel this life and turn each page

With the heart of a poet, wisdom of a sage
Perhaps no choice but be what we be
So much to learn, so much to see
What is it like to share what I am
By giving myself simply the best that I can

Who’s inside you, who’s inside me

Are we but learning how to be free
Is that all we do as we travel this earth
Learning and seeking for all we are worth
Learning about love and learning to see
Learning and loving and trying to be free

Oh, the poet is free, the mind it has grown

The sage is afoot, all the joys I have known
To go now fully into the light
In the middle of day and darkness of night
To go now fully into the light
In the middle of day and darkness of night
 FALLING THROUGH THE NIGHT
To the end yourself be true
In what you choose to say and do
Give yourself in all new ways
Be your best in all your days

To the end yourself be true

As to yourself you give your due
For in the end no way to be
But what within you hear and see

And if not always can you know

What’s all to learn before you go
Know in time the truth you’ll find
With open heart and with clear mind

Always will the truth be known

Once you’re on the journey home
Through the night we fall as one
‘Til we arise with the coming sun

To the end yourself be true

To someday arise in a coming sun
 FIRST NATION
Back from the past, returned at last
Begin now anew, so much to do
A world another on this our earth mother
Future is now and it’s time we learned how

Transcend the old, must fully be bold

Wisdom inside, to life be applied
Give forth the call that follows the fall
First nation has come, her children again one
First nation has come and the new shall be done
 CHACO REVEALED
They came to earth to teach and to heal
In a land of magic, energy so real
A canyon of love, a place of peace
Setting the table for a magnificent feast

Nothing by chance, they knew their way sure

Beings of light, with intent so pure
Shift the earth focus in ways that they knew
From planet to planet, as always they do

Come to the canyon, see for yourself

Feel cosmic force as it feels itself
The land is alive, the time it is now
Once more they have shown the rest of us how

Each time we come here we do what we do

We do our own work for us and them too
 JUSTICE
Those who choose
To others abuse
Abuse themselves
Before they’re done
Will be true
Whatever they do
For each and every one
 DESTINY
Given our notice we’ve taken the last plunge
Around about us fulfillment shall come
Adventurous longing is no more to be
Revealed comes the truth of our destiny

Merciless eons which seemed without end

When we always were lost or forgetting again
Connective dissolve, dark disorder abounds
Amidst glimmers of hope that peace can be found

Foretold for mankind ‘tis this bed we have made

Shall our whole human race now be at rest laid
Beneath the rubble of pavlovic behavior
Still each may arise through spirited ardor

For prophecies come and prophecies go

While destiny is fulfilled by singular souls
Destined to change or destined to not
Mostly depends on our power of thought

Walk your own path or fall prey to the pack

But once you commit there’s no turning back
 RIVER OF DEATH
In a dream ..
I dive headlong into the River of Death
And find that death makes no sense;
That death does not exist
Outside the human perspective

I dive into the River of Death

And find death to be illusion;
No longer can I see myself
As limited in any way,
Or unable to be who I am,
For inside death there is nothing

The light I discover at the End of Death

Is light of everlasting beauty
No way to express its glory and mystery
And its eternal reverence for all that lives

Inside death is the answer to all questions

Inside death is the realization
That I'm one with all creation
Inside death is the knowledge that
I merge with all at the moment of “death”
 I come here to experience life fully,
Then move on to a place of higher knowing
Which never changes;
Inside death is the full knowledge of life

Death is but illusion made up by mankind

In the fear that no matter what one does here
It can never be enough;
That eventually one will perish
To some unknown and unknowable place

All this is illusion,

For in the seeds of death
Is the germination of new life
Which transcends anything here;
Death is but a memory of something
Which never existed

Life too is illusion

When seen as fleeting or unknowable;
I know about life by living it fully,
By being in life to the best of my ability

If I fear life it's because I'm afraid

To live it in all its forms at once;
Fear brings me face-to-face with realization
That life can never change;
I know life here won't end ‘til I'm ready
To experience life someplace else

There can be no separation between anything

Of any consequence here or anyplace;
My life is part of a grand scheme
Written by One who sees far beyond
Any human perspective
 I dive into the River of Death;
No matter how hard I swim against the current
There is no escaping the realization
That my life is never to end;
That there can never be anywhere to go

I dive into the River of Death

And find it to be bottomless;
I emerge from the River of Death
Alive in all ways that could ever matter
 MIXED BLESSING

Perhaps the greatest pain

Is to not be seen for one’s gifts
By those closest to us

Perhaps the greatest blessing

Is to forgive them for seeing
Only what they know to see

Yet the pain lingers until one can

Fully acknowledge oneself and
Free the mind of all doubt and deception

POET … REVISITED
Poet, mystic, dreamer
Whatever this affliction
Never can be quenched
The restless soul within

Would I more normal live

Please another part
But every time I try
Must listen to my heart
NOTHING EVER HAPPENED
Coming, going
Never leaving
Starting, stopping
Never being
While,
Nothing ever happened

Leaving nothing
Still unturned
Seeking all yet
All’s unlearned
Because,
Nothing ever happened

Letting go of
Grief and fear
Ultimately
To know and hear
That,
Nothing ever happened

Understanding what
And what's not
Feeling what’s real
Sensing a lot
Yet,
Nothing ever happened

To walk this path

As if it’s real
Much confusion
With which to deal
But,
Nothing ever happened
 Return to source
To see above
Again to know
Total love
Since,
Nothing ever happened

No thing to do
No way to see
What you’re not
You’ll never be
Because,
Nothing ever happened

In spite of loss
Fear and sorrow
Be complete
And live tomorrow
Because,
Nothing ever happened

Never to change
Or be forgot
Or remembered
For any thought
As,
Nothing ever happened

This is all
No more to know
No more to say
Nowhere to go
For,
Nothing ever happened

Nothing ever happened,

And I was never here
 PONDERING
Thinking blinking busy talking
Standing sitting formless walking
Starting stopping doing being
Falling freaking barely seeing
Expressing nothing never trying
Are we living free or freely dying

Where to go seems obvious

The chaotic world oblivious
Wherefore the real that lives within
Does it matter once it ends
What’s in it for me or you
Are you among the choosing few
Or will you perish without honor
These words of truth give pause to ponder
 MUCH ADO
So much there is
So much to do
All I am
Is never through
Until I give up
My false pride
To finally know
What lives inside

SILENT
To love and merge in silent communion
Beyond all words to a lasting reunion
To love and merge with all of creation
May be our way to non-verbal salvation
 SOUL SPEAK
Were I to speak of love in all I say
Share love with others every day
Now to perfect the art
Of speaking only from the heart

Nothing more to know or do

You serve me and I serve you
This is how it’s meant to be
And it is for those who see
But often not when we don’t
Or is it because we won’t?

‘Tis my soul that knows the way

What to do and what to say
To speak or not, doesn’t matter
Say what I must and skip the chatter
Idle talk wastes my time
Tires out my active mind
Save my strength for what’s of merit
‘Stead of repeating like a parrot

Speak from heart and not from mind

Thoughts are random most the time
To speak of love in all I say
Share love with others every day
This is what I strive to do
Perfect this art before I’m through
Speak only from my heart … before I’m through
This is what I strive to do
 RETURN

Now I return to where it began

Back to the Source of all that I am
No way ever to forget what I know
And no place further ever to go

‘Tis no journey for the faint of heart

Brings us together or pulls us apart
No former ways on which to depend
No more old world still to pretend

Density dissolving, beliefs unbelieving

Realities unreal, beyond all deceiving
Mankind’s illusions turned into dust
All of its luxuries covered with rust

Further I go, past fear and greed

For your love is now all that I need
 MESSENGER
I am a messenger and I come to you today
‘Cause there’s this I must tell you, this I need to say
Though it may seem doubtful given all that we’ve been dealt
This whole world is now about to fall in love with itself
And no one anywhere can keep this coming flood at bay

You are among the chosen who have chosen very well
To be here for this explosion and now be free to tell
Those who listen that it’s time to stop fighting love and all
And to know that each of us has come here for this call
Come here just in time and answered every bell

Feeling far beyond the norm of all mankind’s emotion

Learning now that time has come to renew your heart’s devotion
We come here willingly and make these choices certain
We part the veils and see beyond, then lift full-on the curtain
Traveling on we go as one, past the noise and the commotion

I say to you it’s time to grow and time to know yourself as ever
To do no less than you are called and to do this way forever
No more can be failed now in what your Spirit has required
In this time of revelation which has been so long desired
Lessons they are now complete, the task forgotten never
 I come to you as messenger because it is my role
To help you find your way to all that you do know
And since you see it for yourself and for all the others too
This is all there is to say, ‘cause you and I are due
To walk beyond the fear, and live on as the soul

As unlikely as it may seem

The whole world is about
To fall in love with itself
And this is not a dream
 WHEN ALL IS WELL
When all is done which never was
And all that was is never done
There is no more which is to do
And never must a thing be known
Which comes not from deep within

While in one’s heart there is no more

A thing which ‘tis not deeply felt
By one who knows that life mundane
‘Tis but a trance which finally ends
When truth and love arise again

When truth and love arise again

And all that is lives deep within
Then all is well and all else ends