spread features artwork Rainbow Turban by Guatam Narang, UK
influence: 7th Day Adventist Church, Sabbath Keeper
and Temple Reflections in the Ganges by ShantiMayi, France
influence: Indigenous wisdom, Eastern Religion, Christianity
The Way They Departed
He didn’t stand like the others.
His posture was not stooped.
His eyes didn’t have a far-off look.
There was a fire in his speech.
He was not a prisoner.
He listened to every word
And reminded you to breathe.
He spoke to you of eternity.
For you, he was the source,
He was the way,
He was release,
He was raw truth,
He was transformation,
He was all ears
Giving you affirmation.
You realized the whole of it that night.
You ran back in song,
Ran back in silence,
Ran back bowing and begging,
Ran back proselytizing,
Ran back with wings,
Ran back with quills,
Crying out and dancing
Heavy with the burden of gifts;
Into the ether,
Taking seven steps,
Eyes turned up,
Spouting words like a gunboat,
Sailing through the air,
To the four corners,
Still,
For eternity.
Krishna, Buddha, Jesus,
Allah, MLK, the apostles,
Gandhi, the ancestors, roads.
The role of the artist I now understand as that of revealing through the world-surfaces the implicit forms of the soul…
— Joseph Campbell