The Naked King

THE NAKED KING   - Feb 19 05
 
There is a King of emotions
and he rides high when he chooses
and his banner
is the flame
He is the King
of many dominions
for it is his mission
to conquer
and war is his answer
to all pain
He does not discuss
but only issues orders
he does not forgive
but only executes
and he does not surrender
for pride
is the only master
he knows
 
He rides a mount
at all times
for he needs to see
above the heads
of those
he controls
rather than meet
their naked eyes
He glories
in the attack
for this is the moment
of ecstasy
when no longer
does he hold back
no longer does he wait
for the release
of his rage
 
So confident is he
that he sees power
as his beauty
hence he owns
no mirror
no visible reflection
of the dictator
he has become
 
And as he travels
from village to village
laying waste
to all he sees
he leaves consciousness behind
for how else
is the purity
of his lust
to be maintained?
 
His is the way
that glory is found
in destruction
that possession
becomes a god
that vengeance 
is misnamed as justice
and all reason
is lost
 
His is the impatience
of the young soul
the infant soul
the desperation
of the fearful child
who knows no other means
to protect
what seems 
already gone
 
And if we take
this great King
cast him down
from his steed
strip him
of his armour
and dress him instead
as a swaddling child
then
do we see 
his true form
his true origin
and his true heart
as it cries for love
for yes
even this one
is without guilt
though he strikes out
at the innocent
even this one
is at all times
a child
of god
 
And how do we live
when he comes 
into our homes
when he breaks down the door
and charges
at us
threatening
the little one
who lives in us
who perhaps
has anger
of her own
when she too
reveals the frightened child
the exposed and helpless infant
who knows no other way
to survive?
 
This complex question
must take many roads
in answer
for we can no more
understand anger
in a word
than we can simplify
the meaning
of love
 
We see
and we feel anger
as heat
as a flame
put to the heart
and thus
we experience it
as danger
for a flame
that leaps out of control
becomes a certain
and painful death
 
And yet this flame
arises from within
for here lives the fear
always mother
to rage
and so we become trapped
by our own expression
susceptible to death
by our own hand
 
It is for this reason
that anger cannot remain within
it must
by its very nature
be expressed
through expulsion
and if it is somehow
kept trapped
it will find other ways
to devour internally
as it burns
 
But if we live
in a relationship of love
if we stand beside
one whom we wish
to love
then how do we respond
when the King arrives
when the natural kindling
of old pain
is met
by a summer wind
and all in a moment
one lover
next to another lover
is consumed
by flame?
We must begin
with a new understanding
and this is
that there is no human expression
which is unnatural
and no human emotion
that is worthy 
of shame
 
So much of the pain
we come to know in human form
is rooted not
in the experience itself
but in the human response
to the experience
and while this
is understandable
it is a new time
dawning
when we can look
with all eyes
finally free
from judgement
for this is how god 
has always looked upon us
even when
we dreamed up stories
that it was divine
to blame
 
And so
if we begin
by knowing
that whatever arises in us
is given to us
as a voice
in the process of healing
our world
then we can see
that even 
the most outrageous King
leading the most dangerous 
of armies
is not to be reviled
and not
to be feared
This is a perspective
that may be a place
to which we return
for in the moment
of assault
the inherited response
is deep and strong
and when we are attacked
it is the human way
either to cower in weakness
or to reply in kind
and yet
there will come a day
when we discover an acceptance
that will allow the King
to point his lance
and no matter how powerful
his steed
no matter how loud
his fury
he will charge
and he will meet us
still standing
and he will pass through us
and out
the other side
 
For the secret
of the King
is that he requires of others
to decide
if they are followers
or opponents
for he will hear
of no other choice
yet 
this is his illusion only
and as we gain
in our own strength
in our own transformative powers
it will become more and more clear
that there is a third choice
and in this way
we will dethrone him
with his own force
whether he likes it or not
though the truth
of all Kings
is that they are meant to discover
the joy found
at the end
of their days
 
And so
the two lovers
who each bear Kings
within
have two tasks
before them
and one
is how to face
the King of the other
and one
is how to face
the King they hold inside
yet each of these
will respond
to the power of Love
when it can be touched
in its own time
 
Two Kings
engaged
in head to head combat
achieve little
until one pauses long enough
to raise his mask
One King
attacking a lover
gives her a chance
to disengage
his false claims
One King
who rears up
in response
to an attack
by a lover’s King
has a chance
to choose his moment
and say no
I will grant this time
to her expression
and save my King
for another time
 
For like all tyrants
this King
can only dominate
with the support
of willing soldiers
who say yes
to his strength
and yes
to his right
to trample all
in his path
 
And if only we
who witness his fierce ride
have the courage to recognize
the illusion
of his fire
we cannot burn
we cannot hurt
and we cannot ever
die
 
And so
in our awareness
we may grant him his day
as many days perhaps
as he needs
to sputter and fume
to joust and flail
to shriek and rage
at all that he sees
knowing that
he is indeed
an emperor
without any clothes
until he is ready
to look in a newfound mirror
and witness his own nakedness
after all
 
But better a naked King
than to deny his birth
Better a conscious King
than one who refuses
his mirror
And better our Kings
than no Kings at all
for they are the ones
who are brave enough
and foolish enough
to ride forth in their skin
flinging open the castle gates
to reveal the dungeons of pain
that live beneath
 
Let each King be nothing more
than the guardian
of the wounded infant
and no harm can come
from this
or any other battle
between children
bearing invisible
swords

---

much love,
Adi