Prayer

Deepest reverence to the One
Ardhanariśvara, who is everything.
Deepest reverence to the One
Ardhanariśvarī, who is everything.
The nameless who is named.
Nourish all beings with your stillness,
Knowing the no-word-knowing.
Nourish all beings with the great vibration
Stillness spiralling to sensuality and form.
Show to all beings their Sacred Truth.
For you are the One, who is everything.
May all beings gaze knowingly through
Your eyes, in the glory of no-separation.
May there be peace, peace, peace.

This poem arose during an event during WOMADelaide 2022, with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra layering music and silence. It tool the Lord's Prayer structure but gave it, to me, a deeper truth. Ardhanariśvara is Śiva and Ardhanariśvarī is Śakti in this imaging of the half male and half female deity. It is an expression of the One Consciousness out of which everything emerges.