TRAVELING FROM THE WEST TO THE EAST...

REMEMBRANCE
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" [Excerpt from "Zen is Now" c. 1995]



Out of a thick leach like
clot of blood we created
you and set you on high
in a garden paradise
over flowing with streams of
delight you use to sigh
until you grew proud
and fell under the trap of Iblis
so down we hurled you to
the earth until the hour of
your release



and unto us shall be your return
and unto us shall be your return

to gardens of bliss or
the flames of hell to burn
and have we not set parables
for you to discern in the
signs of the sun and the moon
and the canopy of stars
galaxies spinning in vast
regions of space so far
apart have your hearts grown
cold from our reminders

and unto us shall be your return
and unto us shall be your return

and now you cannot
even recall the day
when we brought you all
forth to swear
an unbreakable covenant
and now you cannot even recall
the searing, flickering light
that we caused you all to see
but in the end is your return to us

in the end is your return
to me
to recall all that you have
spent and all that you have
stored
and have we not sent
down to you rain
sweeping the fertile lands
and the shores with our mercy
after the warning flashing like
angry arrows of light
in the expanse so bright while
the thunder roared

and have we not punished
some of you with shameless wealth
and abundant riches and children
and good health only to consume
you on that day when neither
friend nor foe shall avail you
not

but unto us shall be your return
but unto us shall be your return

to gardens of fig trees or
the flames of hell to burn
and on that day when we bring you forth
in crowds to receive all that you
have earned and no injustice shall
we repay you for all that you use
to say or do

so when the land is dark
and the slumber’s deep and
from deathlike sleep we awaken
you to behold the unyielding
light of dawn
give thanks for the day you were born

for unto us shall be your return
for unto us shall be your return
to gardens of delight or to the
flames of hell to burn
but unto us shall be your return
unto us shall be your return…