World on Fire (Lost Boys)

/ Daniel Swearingen

“We part the veil on a killing sun. Stray from the straight line on this short run. The more we take, the less we become.” – Sarah McLachlan & Pierre Marchand

For I knew in this world of fire it was my destiny……Still the “world was on fire and it was more than I could handle.” *

The phantoms accompanied me through the real forest to the line of demarcation, that which divides the body from the craving. They were muses, if not daemons, and at times they settled upon my skin as if to travel there.  They thought my soul a rest from the long smoke-filled pathway. We walked on to find the shroud. That veil which separates life from the world on fire, and hurls the soul into the blue forest. They whispered that they had been “Lost Boys” too. Unbound in other creations, their worlds scorched by the burdens of fallen men. So, I listened to them, as we passed by the seared headstones near the trail. Those graves of grandfathers, and pioneers, missionaries filled with evil and good will alike. Males of authority, bastards without a story of where or when. Rich and poor men. Those men known to a world on fire, without their boyhood name. Cut in two by lack of identity. A timidity of soul before the vale. Afraid to jump, or believe, and I walked hurriedly by, for I did not wish to know them, or be as them.

The apparitions with me, poked me with memories, as I stumbled through the ash filled undergrowth, reminding me that the delineation boundary was hidden at times, as if G_D wears a mask. I felt myself humbled, bruised, and I did not wish to be hurt or lost anymore. I quickened my pace, as if in doing so I might eliminate those questions that look for hidden responses, when the answers reside in the question itself. As the burning trees consumed the oxygen around me, and in a state of desperation I begged the specters which gave me haunt to know their names. I wished to know them, and with that acquaintance, I alluded myself to think that there was magic. A quickened as it might be. A mirror with a reflection to know whom I was supposed to be. It was then that I stumbled upon an uplifted root and found myself falling. And, as I fell, I heard ten thousand whispers repeating, “We are Legion“, and I knew they did not know their names, as I did not know mine. For I had become them.

I was dropping, falling as the morning star. A burning orb within me, plummeting within and without the world on fire. Plunging as David after the fall. Moving through lives and beyond burning shadows. Failed dreams, and an eternity of futile desire for knowing not my name, or what it meant. For the world was on fire, and every something appeared in a negative sum. A dwindling cool spot under an uncontrollable flame. A crisis that goes without repent. For the night had become the day, and the day the night.

……And I cried out to G_D to judge me, to know me as I am, to amplify my reasons for living under the calmness of her hand. To kiss me, to fill my soul and feel my face. To become me. To believe in me, as I bless the treasure, the mystery that is his hand. To be like Moses, and know it face to face. To be it face to face. For I knew in this world of fire it was my destiny, to be one with the sum.

……And above me was the sound of pleasure, the movement of airborne wings, and what was separated from me, was in me once more. Kissing me in shadows, knowing me in light. For it was eternity beyond the curtain, and I was a child unbroken. I was in the calling, summoned out of a world on fire. I was a man. I was a man. – 10.15.2019 – דָנִיֵּאל

* World on Fire lyrics – Sarah McLachlan & Pierre Marchand

80 thoughts on “World on Fire (Lost Boys)”

  9. A well written message to the masses. Thank you!
    As individual as we might feel we are, as much as we would escape mortal reality, we are all one big happening.
    You are a man. I am a woman. We are both, each and individually, human.
    It is of utmost importance to me that you referred to G_D as a female in this prose. “the calmness of her hand.” You should do that more often. It shows the broadness of your take on humanity.
    As I read this, Blind Faith was playing in the BG… Can’t Find My Way Home… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJJnA6zEcGk…It worked for me.

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  16. Daniel, for some reason I missed this when it was posted earlier, but very happy I came across it on the repost. I can identity with so much of what you have written here. The crossing from uncertainty to a comfortable status with the universe. This was one of your most powerful writings. Thank you. Wang

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  19. Daniel, you have once again plumbed the depths of your soul and revealed to all of us who search that everything is going to be okay even when we falter. My favorite line, “And above me was the sound of pleasure, the movement of airborne wings, and what was separated from me, was in me once more.” Thank you.

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  20. Daniel, you have written another piece here that I can strongly identify with and I thank you for that. The imagery of the world especially life as forest on fire and needing relief is something I can strongly identify with. Finding it in the solace of spiritual help is also a great identifier for me. One of your best. respectfully, Bill

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  22. And I cried out to G_D to judge me, to know me as I am, to amplify my reasons for living under the calmness of her hand. I can identify with female as G_D. This was truly an amazing piece pf writing. Thank you.

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    • Thank you Danika, my friend Resa expressed the same thing to me in a comment earlier. To me the identity of G_D is nondescript. I dare not identify or describe G_D for to me G_D is. I can however appreciate what you are saying in identifying G_D as a female. 😉

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