The Emerald

It was the voice in the ashram,
and then in the tree house
when I was a boy that told me
where to find the emerald
and I have seen it,

and you will see it as well
if you walk a while with me
through the dark
until there is light,
and then deeper
into the night as well
after.

You will not know
how to find it
until you see it
there before you
in a moment that

happens

only once in a single life,
and when you do see it,
you will know
IT has found YOU
rather than the
other way round,

and the small sparkling
shaft that it reflects
will not illuminate
the darkness around you,
but rather fill your heart
until the life within it

flows from your eyes,
and your mouth
and your fingers too,

for when you see that light
and know it was your birthright,
there will be so much joy
and life that wells with in
that it will spill forth
from you and drown
the dark.

And you will know,
and I will know too,

that we are both
together,
and
finally

free.