The Hard Men of Hard Looks

The hard men of hard looks

lie shamelessly to themselves

peering mean into the camera

and the nervous world beyond

Shit sneaks through their drawers

like sweat filling their T-shirts

as fear drills through their hearts

and rises as hard

The hard are boys crying

for some gentle, masculine touching

with strength in the holding

assurance in the standing

The hard men drop early

succumbing to Death's reaching

when Life's whats the wanting

and Love's more than cunting

needing smiles on their frowning

and truth in their laughter

that the hardness be transforming

for the youth tagging behind them

*The fall of man is understood to mean a fall into the physical, from a body of light to "garments of skin" (Genesis 3:21). And when Adam - whose being embraced all of creation - fell, so did everything else.

-Eliezer Shore

*Every relationship is a relationship God, but when that essential truth is hidden, the external world takes on an independent reality that deceives and attracts the attention. 

-Eliezer Shore

*The goal of all spiritual work is to detach the seeker from preoccupation with the outer trappings of reality and redirect the energies inward, to that place where infinity touches the soul.  The fallen can never equal the power and ecstasy of the being in its source.  Whereas fallen love is selfish, love of God is expansive.  Fallen fears are obsessive, true fear is edifying.

-Eliezer Shore