Plumb Line-In remembrance of Dr. Gregory

PLUMB LINE
In remembrance of Dr. Ralph R. Gregory

An open window slams against its frame.
Shock moves across the skin of the floor.
Glass shatters in the gust of the unforeseen
as everything shifts off its foundation

We can be homeless in our bodies,
displaced within the frame of our being.
We cling to the offset—false home of the self,
throwing our children into the breach of lost equilibrium.

Cannot right ourselves until a plumb line is set
at core and art combines technique in realignment.

An ancient voice says:
I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people

I saw his eyes weep as he thought about
commitment to this promise.

He knew life flows from inner depth to outer existence
He knew he must call both to return to the core of their core.

More than even art and technique together,
nothing great can be done without an abundant heart,
nothing great can be sustained without tending the fires
of original vision.

An open window slams against its frame
nothing shifts for the core has been made strong:
the plumb line holds firm, aligning spirit to source.
The children are safe within their home
where transference of compassion’s regard opens the flow
of life’s essence, through the central corridor of the house of being.

Robert Pynn
for Dr. Gordon Hasick