Table of Contents
Haiku
by Brother Stephen Brockelman
Naked not bare
Shod
Conducted around
Hoodwinked
Light
Work
This unnamed poem by Brother Stephen Brockelman is experimenting
with variations of Japanese verse forms such as Senryu which alternate 5-7-5
and 5-7-7 stanzas to form longer poems than the short 3-line haiku.
okl.
Step 'round the altar
ne'er trusting the dark need light
conductor guiding
Hoodwink off bright white
Bible holding tight have word
A grand man clothed aprons says
Spring awakes hands shake
Just now knowing what's a man
I've begun what's next to learn
So a Mason then
And having met Hiram there
What I do is Craft.
The Three Degrees in Haiku
by Brother Ted Berry
The Hoodwink
Kneeling in darkness,
the hoodwink removes itself
of its own accord.
Inside
In a private place,
lies a sacred place and there,
within, lies a Word.
Darkness Again
In darkness once more.
Struck down by an unseen blow.
I will rise again.
Stellar Haiku
by Brother Owen Lorion
Allegory is
the life of haiku, just as
for Masonic light.
Three: the Sun, the Moon,
and the Star of the Lodge, the
Worshipful Master.
Five: Corinthian,
Doric, Iconic, Tuscan,
Composite: Pillars.
Seven: Grammar, Speech,
Logic, Math, Geometry,
Music, the Heavens.
The Working Tools
by Brother Owen Lorion
The working tools of
Masonry are the Level,
Square, and Compasses.
Level, to even,
that no Mason be inclined
to pride or hauteur.
Square, to be upright,
honest in everything
to God and to Man.
Compasses divide
inside circle from out;
passions hold in check.
The working tools of
Masonry are the Gavel,
Gauge, Plumb, and Trowel.
Gavel, setting maul,
blunt tool for rough shaping of
a man's character.
Gauge of twenty-four,
measures of the length of days,
divided three ways.
Plumb, vertical angle
right to the Earth; are we
ecological?
Trowel, Master's tool,
for once the cement has set
there can be no change.
These next three arrived together in Sept. 2007,
though I don't think Ted meant them to be a trilogy like his ones above.
okl.
Lesser Lights
by Brother Ted Berry
The three lesser flames
Arranged around the altar
Shed a sublime light.
Rational Mystics
by Brother Ted Berry
Freemasonry is
The high art of creating
Rational mystics.
Gone
by Brother Ted Berry
Then it came to me.
It did not really matter
If the flesh was gone.
Links
More poems by Ted can be found at Berry.
Brother Berry is also represented on the Tetractys page.
More poems by Owen can be found at Lorion.