There is a pestering sense
That I walk towards something inscrutable,
Something at the end
That unlocks the mystery;
The center of something,
Just beyond the horizon,
Just beyond the next curve
And turn on the road.

At times I can distinguish it,
I draw near to the Center,
The “Center of Being,”
And then in an instant I am thrust to the outer barren edges,
Shielded only by Lunations,
As I am reminded the journey has only begun.

With every step,
Gazing the pathway,
I enter profoundly into the deep Unknown.
The distance becomes of little concern,
Time fades as I carry-on,
And then, just when I find myself once again on the outer edge,
The pathway towards the Center becomes visible.

As I step into its light,
The “Center of Being,”
I pause and rest in its warm comforting brightness.
I am in a place of holy refuge,
Enveloped by the journey,
Spirals that weave the passage,
And take me to the place I need to be.

And then, the pathway in,
Becomes the pathway out,
And I hear in the silent whisper of the Wind:
“It’s not over.”
And once again I begin to walk,
And I am reminded,
The journey has only begun.
©Wilfredo Benitez
January 29th, 2018

We walk in time of darkness,
We journey from the Maternal Womb to the Light;
The shadows surround us,
The fears, the falsehoods that we have nurtured,
The chains that bind us producing woeful suffering;
Onerous and cursed chains that drag us into the Light …

We walk the Via Negativa,
The Transformative Way,
The Dark Night of the Soul towards the Dawn.

We walk in diamonds of Light bursting and destroying the terror,
The dread of the dark night of the Soul on pilgrimage.

There is a Luminosity that guides us,
An Aurora visible in the emptiness of shadow,
A Morning Twilight that can only be reached by walking through the darkness;
And he who flees never reaches it,
And she who hides never discovers it.

A radiant and comforting Light calls us and instigates us,
Her beauty a departure from falsehoods,
Its warmth frees us from illusion and corruption;
In that Light we dwell in rest and joy,
Finally clothed in indefinable Love.

Pilgrim, darkness leads us to the Light,
Pilgrim, it is impossible to arrive without dancing in the shadow.
Let us dance then, leaving behind the fear,
Leaving behind the error of thinking that everything was a condemnation,
Unfairly imputed …

Wilfredo Benitez
September 25th, 2017

How beautiful to rest in wisdom,
How beautiful the repose born of such sublime Eternity.
What liberty when one is freed of ignorance,
And the voluntary sentence of self-deception.

Sophia of my soul,
Beautiful lady of the light and night,
Striking brightness that brings inner peace,
Why deny your entry into my bed chamber?
Why resist the caress of your knowing?
Why refuse your seductive gaze calling me to freedom?

The door opens very slowly,
And little by little I see your nakedness;
Little by little I embrace my nakedness,
Realizing the futility of trying to hide.

Sophia of my soul,
Lady wisdom,
I surrender to your seduction,
Break the resistance,
And dismantle the chains that keep me prisoner.

Sophia of my soul,
Come rest in me,
Tear down my stubbornness,
And fill my being with the aroma of your light;
Your glow of knowing and understanding,
Your enveloping haze where neither falsehoods nor arrogance will enter.

Sophia of my soul,
Come and make your sanctuary in me,
Sophia of my soul …

Wilfredo Benitez
August 14, 2017

There are those who claim that miracles do not exist,
That there is only science,
And facts that are palpable;
What can be measured and quantified.

And what of the magic behind the science?
What of the alchemy that nourishes the atom?
What of the energy fields that dodge, and side step the experts,
That Impulse still unknown by science,
That generates the phenomenon of life?

A single flower is born and expands,
Following the path of the universe,
It springs forth and multiplies into petit flowers.
Like stars and galaxies in the infinite night sky;
A universe that bloomed one good day,
And now it expands in time and space.

And what of the universe contained in that flower?
What of the miracle that produced such a wonder?
What of the prodigy that brings us such beauty?

The universe is a canticle to the miraculous,
A visual spectacle for those who stop,
And look, and see the miracle,
They who breathe the miracle,
And they who live the miracle.

A flower intones its song,
A riot of petals emanating praises.
In a gesture of spherical euphoria,
They extend into the Imperishable;
And yet the blind insist:
There are no miracles …

Wilfredo Benitez
July 24, 2017

When stillness emerges
A universe opens
The inward gaze becomes witness
To an ocean of movement
Pulsating, vibrating
Enticing the soul to plunge in,
And surrender to its depth and beauty.

The Buddha turns his gaze inward,
Jesus cries Abba,
Rumi dances in spirals of ecstatic LOVE,
And poets everywhere
Become the prisoners of boundless Adoration.

Where does loneliness dwell when there is solitude?
What power of LOVE ignites the blaze in darkness?
What does a flame dancing in stillness reveal?

Slowly the mystery unravels,
Each time revealing just another enticing foretaste,
Of a horizon bursting with boundless layers of light within.
Each time pulling us into the deepest LOVE,
Each time tugging us into irresistible LOVE,
Each time revealing that there is only LOVE.

©Wilfredo Benitez
May 16, 2016

There is a dance of little angels
That hear the song of God
And they’ve discovered a grand space
In the beating heart.

There in that place,
In-between the eternal spaces of every beat,
They make their dance,
In exaltation of the Most High.

The currents that run through that place
Carry the Breeze of God
That we call Spirit…

Holy Spirit
Ruach
Pneuma
Wind
Life
Breath of Life
The name of God
Yah… …weh!

With every inhalation
The dance continues;
With every exhalation
The dance expands,
And the streams of Love
Disperse and travel
Through the entire body of a mortal soul,
And the earthly touches the infinite.

O mortal friend,
Do you not
hear the song of God between the heart beats?
Can you not sense the feet of little angels in their dance,
There in the infinite spaces of your heart?

O mortal friend,
Didn’t you know that there in your heart,
Can be found the salons
Where little angels congregate?
There is a great feast of adoration,
With every beat of the heart,
O friend
How long will you remain outside?

©Wilfredo Benitez
Feast Day of Saint Mark the Evangelist
April 25th, 2016