Darkness has beset us, neither science nor the intellect
Can ever dissipate the gloom.
A distant light, so alien
To our prognosis of perdition,
An orb of stellar luminance is winking at us, signaling
To navigate through heavy, blackened space that we may find
The natural panacea:
Flowering lotus, blooming cocoa bud, unfolding pod,
Our souls’ restoration.
New alignments cull from every faith and every race
The brilliance of their oneness.
Consonance has found its symbol, hope its oasis,
Prosperity its global enterprise, the imperiled bird its nest.
The Dawning-place of praises, where words convert to deeds,
Where worshipers, conventionally walled-in are now unloosed
From pious self-immersion,
Exult in fecund adoration, outwardly directed,
Engaging in activity beyond the fixed tradition.
In this forgotten spot each brought their own fist of soil
To fill the urn, the womb, which would produce a vibrant being.
They fertilized that hallowed ground and thus it was to be
Their rightful heritage, a revered legacy.
Stone by stone they reared the sacred fane,1
No shuttered temple this,
But open-doored to every creed and every breath from heaven.1
Unfettered by myopic, bearded, self-ordained imperiousness.
An alien race now bow below the all-embracing dome.
A structure of symmetric grace, crowned with tiles of clay,
Molded from the substance of its very own foundation,
A local and familiar aspect now reflected globally,
Nothing accidental, no placement arbitrary, the counter parts
Designed to complement the balanced field,
From all perspectives seen the same,
Beams that frame the assorted patterns
Connect at highest center where the light
Reveals His Greatest Name.
Within this new-found system,
Invariably symmetrical yet endlessly entangled,
Mirroring a single concept, continents, isles, vicinities,
Each element co-related, each willingly surrenders,
Transforming chains to freedom, want to assured prosperity,
Shame to glory, somber past to promised destiny,
Equal status guaranteed through vinculum of prayer,
In joint accord corralling forces of creative love,
Evolving to collective consciousness beyond all expertise.
A noble people arising from the bowels of oppression,
Capacious their capacity for joy and pain combined,
Exteriorized the beauty that inherently defines
The ones who strived to realize this point of adoration.
With elegance and dignity the Cauca men display
The joy of understanding, submission to their Lord.
The women with their plaited hair, entangled yet symmetric,
Artfully parade the crowning diadem of expended years
In steadfast dedication, elaborate preparation, freed by love.
Time will determine the extension of their labors,
While the emerging native forest weaves custodial canopies
Of cachimbo, tamarindo, chiminango, gualanday,
The natural world enhancing our grasp of the divine.
Service, adoration, now inseparably defined,
A nexus intertwining neighborhoods and families,
Dark forces dissipated for whole communities,
The Dawning-place, where synthesis of song and supplication
Will bind the hearts, will summon us and bid us enter in.