© 1992 Stephen Zendt
What is this soul
which shall arise
yes, rise up
when I have laid me down?
Where shall my life be borne
when all heartbeating
time has stopped
and breath is gone?
The stars have beckoned me
since my childhood days,
the cloaking dark pierced
by pinpoint light and silver.
Arising from my own familiar flesh
I would put off mortality
to garb this most personal one
I am in infinite awakenings of love.
Yet now my fledgling self seems ready
to dissolve when I assume a
vast infinity as universal goal
and destination of my soul.
These old and mouldy fears are mine to lay
away for wisdom says I shall
break forever free discovering
a universe of possibilities.
For one companion, wisdom’s friend and welcome,
ever onward enthuses me in
preparation for this long-sought
voyage beyond my mortal frame.
My Father, friend, your steady presence
has become my golden guide
and rule and all the stars and time are but
the firstfelt evidence of your eternal home.
—Stephen Zendt
San Francisco
1976 (revised 1991)