Start the Fire

[Ilya Shambat]

Start the fire - Higher, higher!
That's the word the dead will hear
That the World, Complete, Entire,
Is Entitled to revere -

Start the fire - let it simmer
Let it singe the wooden branches,
Let the sparks above it shimmer
And reach out to all man's natures,

As they burn - no intervention
Burning freely, bravely, truly,
Burn the darkness of convention
And inspire the living fully,

Burn, O bonfire! Burn completely
Leave no trace of loss and sorrow
Burn in love and indiscreetly
Flare the past, light up tomorrow

And keep burning into Now
Till the moment is a Fire
And all in it starts to Glow;
Fire, keep burning - Higher, Higher -

That's the word the dead will hear
That's the word known to the living
Who have vanquished all the fear
And thus overcame Deceiving:

Tell me, fire, spare not my feelings,
How do I appear beside you?
Will the truth you be revealing
If I put my arm inside you?

Will it burn or become vapor?
Will I hold or scream in pain?
Will it light up like white paper
Or be drenched in soothing rain?

I am burning, I am burning;
And through passion made by fire,
In the fire the truth discerning,
I Alight, Complete, Entire -

Blue and red and orange-yellow
Flames are reaching all around me,
Blazing fire, screaming shadows -
Do you seek now to astound me?

Do you know what you are facing?
Do I know who, what, made you?
From what unbeknownst places
Did you come - where going to?

All the things I ever wanted
Came to me before I chose them,
And their memories are haunting,
And are cutting like a rose stem,

But the rose is worth the prickles
And the warmth is worth the pain
And though blood from my mouth trickles
I would do it all again.

I would burn like I am burning
I would yearn like I have yearned,
Staying fiery, never learning
Lessons not worth being learned:

But inspired with life's essence
Through unbridled Love's embrace
See through all of man's false lessons
And burn them without a trace

And then reach into the soul
And there feel light from the heart
And discern the timeless whole
As reflected in each part -

Which in plasma come together
Like electrons' quantum rings
In which lives key to Forever
And the truth from which it springs -

And inside it I'll be burning
With the essence of each minute:
Know what Truth is worth discerning?
Look at Fire - I am in it!

And in fire, where I am standing,
I'll send Light into the world,
That its life be never-ending
And the Living hear my Word.

Ilya Shambat
https://sites.google.com/site/ibshambatpoetry