The bright abyss by Dhammadinna

All that holds you back is fear,

Fear of change,

Of the unknown,

Of you, in all your glory,

fear of the dizzy space,

the bright abyss of boundless light

of the starry, starry firmament

and deep unfathomable night.

 

Too long have you crawled worm-like and cowed

Along the muddy base of life

Blind in your fear and ignorance

Wallowing in bitter, bitter strife.

 

But now the stars do call

Sunbeams and rainbow light enthrall

And you must give your all

Or stay in darkness walled,

Your eyes long sealed by tears of the misery of hell

Now painfully see

The bit of suffering in which you dwell

& senses dimly become aware of

the fragrance of freedom

wafting to you on scented air.

 

Your heart is pierced with a shaft from the sun

The darkness rendered

& all the ways of woe undone,

no longer in misery’s safety can you hide,

wrapped in shrouds of darkness

all your glory walled inside.

 

Now you must turn your face

Towards the light and space

Open your eyes and wish

Leap into the bright abyss.

Ah, but fear, blind fear

Holds you in its claim

– all that you have been must die

& death for you is forged with pain

 

For all that you have been must die

Death holds you in it’s sway

But die you must

Darkness to light

Death to life

In the diamond studded way.

 

For all that you have been must die

Even the loves and pain that brought you here

to freedom shore

Consumed in the fire,

The whimpers of self-made isolation

Lost in the roar

Of the wind that blows through all creation.

 

For all that you are must die

Your conflicts that give you shape

Your heart-ache that gives you excuse for all you do

All that you are,

Sacrificed to all devouring freedoms face

All surrendered

All given

All that is you, lost without trace

In the dizzy whirling depths of formless, faceless,

Fearless space.

 

So leap, leap, leap

Into the bright abyss

No backward longing glance

To the safety of your chains

No fingers grasping at the security of your pain

No reaching forward

With ego’s hardened urge for approval or love

Or even cease of pain.

 

Let go, let go

Spread your wings and fly

Coast in the gentle breeze

Soar in the azure sky

For who will remember you as you are

When high above you shoot and flash

A brilliant, brilliant star.

 

Dhammadinna 1976

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