Return to the Lantern

People will return here,
as they must in time,
and I must tend the Lantern

Exceed your Grasp

The lost Lantern of Cuin, or so it is told,
Was rounded with four handles, impossible to hold;
For each was cut sharply and honed to edge keen
That could only be lifted with wisdom foreseen.

Each was a large ring cast in the fires of dawn
As large as your heart and small as fear's spawn,
And set in bronze teeth as in four-square defense
That in pairs they opposed though with names in suspense.

One was of cold iron drawn up from Blessed Earth;
The second was of pure gold as the soul of birth.
The next was crystal with the clarity of thought,
While the last was of silver spirit-thread wrought.

Yet their profound nature could n'er be perceived
Except at the seizing in one moment proclaimed,
By the surrender of will bound in pride and deceit
And the yielding of self to the faith and the Light.

For some pairs seem to balance while others oppose,
And your life, simple man, is to embrace, I suppose --
Which define your existence of this Attention
Through invitation and choice and bonded intention.

If you clasp the wrong handles the balance is lost
And your future is molded by humanity tossed,
But to lift high this Lantern in tune with the song
Will transport you to Source where you surely belong.

Work then to learn alchemy set here and about
To transform the elements through wizardly art,
Or learn through life's study of lanterns held dear
In community and brotherhood both far and near.

Or you can learn here the secret of these three things,
That a simple gifted staff can slip through the rings,
And two people together can lift it with ease,
For as two serve as one so shall wonder appease.