In the Rearview
Voyage of the Ancient Mariner...Part IIIThough the memory is dim,
It is no exaggeration to say,
I took a high dive that fateful day,
To make my escape from that doomed ship,
Sinking from the burden of its own corruption.
Well, ok, it wasn’t so much a dive,
As it was a bellyflop I admit...
But I was free from all the shit
Yes indeed I was free!
That’s all that mattered to me...
Now it wouldn’t be until years later
I could recall what happened next
But I can tell you now,
This is how it went…
When I smacked against the water,
In an instant all went black...
And I imagine to the casual observer
It must have seemed I was dead...
But within my head, that was not at all the case...
For now in my ears played the Music of the Spheres...
While totally filling the scene
Before my very eyes it did seem,
There was a great flowing kaleidoscope
Of fiery red pork chops and bacon,
Bathed in a current of T-bone,
And a river of ribeye...
Don’t ask me why,
Maybe the gods were playing tricks on me
Too long lost at sea, on a diet of biscuits and brine,
Out of touch with humanity,
Out of touch with my mind.
Or maybe it was Time’s Endless Meat River I saw,
Incarnations of the ages,
Being offered to me as my last supper,
As some farcical feast...
Or maybe I was the supper,
My own tenderloins being offered
To some other hungry beast.
In any event, it matters the least kind listener
Where my body went next,
For this was no end to my quest…
As now I felt my belly gently swing open,
Parted like heaven’s gates you might say,
As a choir of angels sang to me…
And there I saw It exit from my body,
What the masters might call my tan tien chi…
It was a great nebulous orb of bright golden light...
A wonderful shining, shimmering ball...
An undying glow as far as I could see...
I was all of It...
And It was all of me!
Yes, as hard as it is to believe,
I experienced pure awareness on a cosmic scale...
Connected and clear, everything made sense,
All the events of my life had purpose,
All the pieces of the puzzle neatly fit.
In sacred communion...
I was One with It!
Beautiful bliss beyond words is what I felt…
Then, just as suddenly
As I had transcended the material plane,
There I was back again…
Overwhelmed by the Pure Splendor...
Tears poured from my eyes
As I opened them to find my face buried in the sand.
Raising my head,
I saw myself on an endless stretch of beach…
And I wondered, what on Earth could this place be,
But the Shores of Eternity…
It's like deja vu all over again.
Yogi BerraClick below to read
Voyage of the Ancient Mariner Part IV
