Communion

To use a Science. Fiction analogy, the Soul is perpetually concerned to communicate with the ‘Mother-Ship’, trapped as it is in its awkward space suit. The signals are weak, given the inclement weather and heavy atmosphere on earth. The space suit and equipment are also not technically very advanced. Often the weak signals are lost in space. There is also much static noise at base, but the effort continues to communicate, in the hope of a response. It will take time to modify the suit and make it worthy of good communication. The Soul tries hard to work on it, but the hard metal is often unyielding to any change. Occasionally, on a clear day, when the equipment is fully operational the signal goes through and the awaited response comes to the Soul’s delight. My poem on communion employs yet another analogy, that of Alice in Wonderland:

 

                                         THE  TOUCH

 

In a moment of pathos

Pensive,

I perceived like Alice

A diminutive link

Growing from me

As I shrank into the corner.

Its golden extending

Beyond the room

Beyond

Like a rainbow

Transmission

Of my unexplained sorrow’s

Force,

Connecting in a powerful

Floodlight’s extended beam

Into the star-flung, far-flung night.

 

The other

should have felt me connect

As I released

Myself

Unhindered uninhibited.

 

And quite simply I think

I learnt

that sorrow

Is not in injury

Or pain or want of bread,

Or death or any such circumstance.

 

Is

a force which moves

The itch to unite.

An attribute of our need

To extend our finger

And await

The touch.