Only Words

A new book of mine has just been brought out by Vellum Publishing. Only Words: its title comes from poems of the mystic poet, Jalaluddin Rumi who said at the conclusion of some works, 'these are only words'. The book highlights my mystical journey placing the Christian drama of the The Holy Week Sequence beside Poems of the Life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon both of them) plus the agnostic freedoms of the Seven Earth Odes that reveals my earliest moments of spiritual imagination. I'm especially pleased to see The Holy Week Sequence republished. After it was produced in 2004 by C.T. Perry almost all copies were lost and the publisher was unable to reprint the misplaced and abused books. The fourth part of Only Words contains 50 pages of new mystical writings over, mostly, the last five years. Please see below an example from this section of Only Words.
Linnet
Gentle brown, I mustn’t know your veiled hair’s
as brown as a polished string of prayer beads
I shouldn’t caress its lustre and smoothness,
your new leather suitcase brown as if you are
destined to be a traveler between caravanserais.
In one you might drift into another’s arms, cold
and sand-exhausted, under the constellation Fate.
You might share epic stories of concealed oases
when affliction is past, when the world’s sorrows
are contained in a nut which a timid bird devours.
I mustn’t try to guess future narratives, when you
can’t imagine one of them now, and nothing scares
you more than the thought of falling in love again.