This is a story about a king Who lived in a marvelous castle,
Full of intricate passage ways,
Rooms and halls.
This castle had five gates
And each day upon awakening,
Feeling alone,
The king would send forth his ministers
Out into the world through these five gates,
Searching for the king’s beloved lost queen.
And each night he would await their return.
Yet never did they come.
Then one day,
After shutting the five gates,
He heard a cry--
One he had heard before
But had chosen to ignore.
Sometimes it was a wail,
At other times a wimple,
And sometimes just a sigh.
However, this time he followed,
And down he went
Past all the chandeliered halls.
Down
Down
Down
Into the darkness,
Until he could smell
The stench of the dungeons.
And behind a locked cell
A boy he saw.
And the boy looked at him
And said:
Free me, father.
I want to come home.
And the king opened the cell.
With the boy in hand;
They ascended to the king’s throne.
And the king said:
Sit upon the throne;
For only suffering
Have I caused this court.
And the boy did.
The boy called forth new ministers
And told them to go into the world,
And through the five gates they went.
And the king and the boy awaited their return.
To the king’s amazement they returned,
Their eyes wide with joy.
And walking behind them
She walked--
The king’s beloved queen.
And the three ruled together as One.
Janaka was such a king.
And each morning
Sight would fly from his eyes
Smell would grab from his nose
Taste would drip from his mouth
Hearing await in his ears
And feeling would reach through his skin.
And nothing he learned of the world.
Until he shut down the senses
And journeyed past the glittering of the mind,
Following the sorrow,
The longing,
Down past the stench of the guilt of wrong doings.
Until he found the Innocent One
Awaiting patiently in the darkness.
And when the Innocent One
Returned to consciousness,
Janaka truly saw
truly heard
truly smelled
truly tasted
and truly felt.
And truly learned of the world.
For he found his Beloved within it all!
--Janaka Stagnaro
