Michael's Poetry

Dance Of Life


I cannot escape the moon. It's soft beams push aside the curtains at night. I don't even have to see it -- a cool blue energy falls across My bed and I am up. I race down the dark hall and swing open the door, not to leave home but to go back into it. "Moon, I'm here!" I shout.
"Good," she replies. "Now give us a little dance."
But My body has started moving long before she says anything. When did it start? I can't remember -- My body has always been moving. Since childhood I have reacted to the moon this way, as her favorite lunatic, and not just hers. The stars draw Me near, close enough so that I see through their twinkling act. They're dancing, too, doing a soft molecular jiggle that makes My carbon atoms jump in time.
With My arms flung wide, I head for the sea, which brings out another dance in Me. Moon dancing is slow inside, and soft as blue shadows on the lawn. When the surf booms, I hear the heart of the earth, and the tempo picks up. I feel the dolphins leaping in the white foam, trying to fly, and almost flying when the waves curl high to the heavens. Their tails leave arcs of light as plankton glow in the waves. A school of minnows rises up, flashing silver in the moonlight like a new constellation.
"Ah!" the sea says, "Now we're gathering a crowd."
I run along the beach, catching waves with one foot and dodging them with the other. I hear faint popping sounds -- a hundred panicky sand crabs are ducking into their holes, just in case. But I'm racing now, sometimes on My toes, sometimes running flat-out.  I throw My head back and a swirling nebula says, "Fast now, twirl!"
Grinning, ducking My head for balance, I start to spin as wildly as I can. This is my favorite dance, because it contains a secret. The faster I twirl, the more I am still inside. My dance is all motion without, all silence within. As much as I love to make music, it's the unheard music that never dies. And silence is My real dance, though it never moves. It stands aside, My choreographer of grace, and blesses each finger and toe.
I have forgotten the moon now and the sea and the dolphins, but I am in their joy more than ever. As far away as a star, as near as a grain of sand, the presence rises, shimmering with light.  I could be in it forever, it is so loving and warm. But touch it once, and light shoots forth from the stillness. It quivers and thrills Me, and I know My fate is to show others that this silence, this light, this blessing is My dance. I take this gift only to give it again.
"Quick, give!" says the light.
As never before, I try to obey, inventing new steps, new gestures of joy. All at once I sense where I am, running back up the hill. The light in My bedroom is on. Seeing it brings Me back down. I begin to feel My pounding heart, the drowsiness in My arms, the warm blood in My legs.  My cells want to dance slower. "Can we walk a little?" they ask. "It's been kind of wild."
"Sure." I laugh, slowing to an easy amble.
I turn the doorknob, panting lightly, glad to be tired. Crawling back into bed, I remember something that I always wonder at. They say that some of the stars that we see overhead aren't really there.  Their light takes millions of years to reach us, and all we are doing is looking into the past, into a bygone moment when those stars could still shine.
"So what does a star do after it quits shining?" I ask Myself.
"Maybe it dies."
"Oh, no," a voice in My head says. "A star can never die. It just turns into a smile and melts back into the cosmic music, the dance of life." I like that thought, the last one I have before My eyes close. With a smile, I melt back into the music Myself.

- Michael Jackson

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Are You Listening?

Are You Listening? Who am I?
Who are you?
Where did we come from?
Where are we going?
What's it all about?
Do you have the answers?

Immortality's My game
From Bliss I came
In Bliss I am sustained
To Bliss I return
If you don't know it now
It's a shame
Are you listening?

This body of Mine
Is a flux of energy
In the river of time
Eons pass, ages come and go
I appear and disappear
Playing hide-and-seek
In the twinkling of an eye

I am the particle
I am the wave
Whirling at lightning speed
I am the fluctuation
That takes the lead
I am the Prince
I am the Knave
I am the doing
That is the deed
I am the galaxy, the void of space
In the Milky Way
I am the craze

I am the thinker, the thinking, the thought
I am the seeker, the seeking, the sought
I am the dewdrop, the sunshine, the storm
I am the phenomenon, the field, the form
I am the desert, the ocean, the sky
I am the Primeval Self
In you and I

Pure unbounded consciousness
Truth, existence, Bliss am I
In infinite expressions I come and go
Playing hide-and-seek
In the twinkling of an eye
But immortality's My game

Eons pass
Deep inside
I remain
Ever the same
From Bliss I came
In Bliss I am sustained

Join Me in My dance
Please join Me now
If you forget yourself
You'll never know how
This game is played
In the ocean bed of Eternity

Stop this agony of wishing
Play it out
Don't think, don't hesitate
Curving back within yourself
Just create...just create

Immortality's My game
From Bliss I came
In Bliss I'm sustained
To Bliss I return
If you don't know it now
It's a shame
Are you listening?

- Michael Jackson

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Two Birds

It's hard to tell them what I feel for You. They haven't ever met You, and no one has Your picture. So how can they ever understand Your mystery? Let's give them a clue:

Two birds sit on a tree. One eats cherries, while the other looks on. Two birds fly through the air. One's song drops like crystal from the sky while the other keeps silent. Two birds wheel in the sun. One catches the light on its silver feathers, while the other spreads wings of invisibility.

It's easy to guess which bird I am, but they'll never find You. Unless ...

Unless they already know a Love that never interferes, that watches from beyond, that breathes free in the invisible air. Sweet bird, my Soul, Your silence is so precious. How long will it be before the world hears Your song in mine?

Oh, that is a day I hunger for!

- Michael Jackson

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Magical Child

Once there was a Child and He was free
Deep inside, He felt the laughter
The mirth and play of nature’s glee
Beauty, love was all He’d see

He knew His power was the power of God
He was so sure, they considered Him odd
This power of innocence, of compassion, of light
Threatened the priests and created a fight
In endless ways they sought to dismantle
This mysteroius Force which they could not handle

In endless ways they tried to destroy
His simple trust, His boundless joy
His invincible armor was a shield of bliss
Nothing could touch it, no venom, no hiss

The Child remained in a state of grace
He wasn’t confined in time or place
In technicolor dreams, He frolicked and played
While acting His part, in Eternity He stayed

Soothsayers came and fortunes were told
Some were vehement, others were bold
In denouncing this Child, this perplexing creature
With the rest of the world He shared no feature
Is He real?  He is so strange...
His unpredictable nature knows no range
He puzzles us so, is He straight?
What’s His destiny?  What’s His fate?

And while they whispered and conspired
Through endless rumors to get Him tired
To kill His wonder, trample Him near
Burn His courage, fuel His fear
The Child remained just simple, sincere.

All He wanted was the mountain high
Color the clouds, paint the sky
Beyond these boundaries, He wanted to fly
In nature’s scheme, never to die

Don’t stop this Child, He’s the Father of Man
Don’t cross His way, He’s part of the plan
I am that Child, but so are you
You’ve just forgotten, just lost the clue

Inside your heart sits a Seer
Between His thoughts, He can hear
A melody simple but wondrously clear
The music of life, so precious, so dear

If you could for one moment know
This spark of creation, this exquisite glow
You would come and dance with me
Kindle this fire so we could see
All the children of the Earth
Wave their magic and give new birth
To a world of freedom with no pain
A world of joy, much more sane

Deep inside, you know it’s true
Just find that child, it’s hiding in you.

- Michael Jackson

*******************************************

Planet Earth

Planet Earth, my home, my place
A capricious anomaly in the sea of space
Planet Earth are you just
Floating by, a cloud of dust
A minor globe, about to bust
A piece of metal bound to rust
A speck of matter in a mindless void
A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid

Cold as a rock without a hue
Held together with a bit of glue
Something tells me this isn't true
You are my sweetheart soft and blue
Do you care, have you a part
In the deepest emotions of my own heart?
Tender with breezes caressing and whole
Alive with music, haunting my soul.

In my veins I've felt the mystery

Of corridors of time, books of history

Life songs of ages throbbing in my blood

Have danced the rhythm of the tide and flood

Your misty clouds, your electric storm

Were turbulent tempests in my own form

I've licked the salt, the bitter, the sweet

Of every encounter, of passion, of heat

Your riotous color, your fragrance, your taste

Have thrilled my senses beyond all haste

In your beauty, I've known the how

Of timeless bliss, this moment of now

Planet Earth are you just

Floating by, a cloud of dust

A minor globe, about to bust

A piece of metal bound to rust

A speck of matter in a mindless void

A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid

Cold as a rock without a hue

Held together with a bit of glue

Something tells me this isn't true

You are my sweetheart gentle and blue

Do you care, have you a part

In the deepest emotions of my own heart?

Tender with breezes caressing and whole

Alive with music, haunting my soul.

Planet Earth, gentle and blue

With all my heart, I love you

- Michael Jackson