I Met a Mystic

My orphan soul is on the move at last.
She tears herself free from ancient confines.
Body clings fast, crying out, “Don’t go!”
 desperate not to be left behind
 like an abandoned house in a bad neighborhood.

Don’t look for me on the mean streets
 in the city of my youth.
That is all behind me now.
I had a sudden change of fortune.
I met a mystic and my good days began.
He taught me there is more to life
 than this place where I’ve always been
 and the tragedy of who I think I am.

The mystic struck a single match of Holy Name
 that set ablaze my mind and account of payment due
 with freedom’s fierce and purifying flame,
 then burned down this orphanage of the world
 where I wandered endless empty hallways
 in search of all I lost when I fell into space and time.

In the ashes of my burned-out broken dream
 the mystic made me close my eyes
 and turn my gaze within.
Behold! Amid the starry mists of all eternity,
 in wave upon wave of welcoming light
I heard the Father of us all calling me
 to come back to the shores of home.

O loving Voice of Light and Sound!
Had I only found you hidden here inside
 and known the comfort of your company
 throughout my lifetimes tumbling down
 beneath the grinding stone of centuries
 in exile’s dark and lonely realm.

But that is all behind me now.
I had a sudden change of fortune.
I met a mystic and my good days began.
He taught me there is more to life
 than this place where I’ve always been
 and the tragedy of who I think I am.

Rose petals drift down to earth
 to bless and celebrate
 a barefoot orphan on a lonely road
 at last proclaimed beloved child
 long lost to the King of Light.
And thus begins a royal escort home
 to the sound of beating drums.
_{Original Submission by a satsangi}