Welcome.  The Pillar & The Snake is based on a vision I had in my twenties.  I was daydreaming, almost asleep, one afternoon when I felt that John, the Apostle, was asking me if I wanted to see a vision of God; and I answered yes.  Then I knew that I was, in my spirit, in Love, in an extraordinary state of pure love, and therein I soon saw the word "IS".  Thereafter, the "I" became a pillar and the "S" became a snake entwining around the pillar and that they could never be parted.  Then I woke abruptly with feelings of wonderful clarity and amazement and trepidation, as well.  I tried to make sense of the vision and wrote a sonnet about it -- but lost that poem somewhere along the way.  This vision occurred around 1985. 

In 1997 or 1998, I thought about trying to rewrite the sonnet I had lost and managed to write the first verse (a sonnet) of this poem.  But as soon as I finished it and felt satisfied with what I had written, I could not pull away and had to write the next two or three lines.  Thereafter, I found myself on a very difficult mental journey in which I struggled to write and rewrite in verse the thoughts I was having on this subject -- the nature of God -- which unfolded into the vision I have placed before you here with "The Pillar & The Snake."  I could not and have not to this day "escaped" from the vision.  I know I never will.

I place this poem before you with these words above as a guide.  One friend, a woman who considers herself a born-again Christian and who tells me she has heard angels singing at a Church revival ministry and who has prophesied  over me telling me my true calling is in teaching and not as an attorney, told me all she saw in this poem was "pure evil."  I hope not.  I remind readers that Moses was instructed to raise up the brazen serpent in the desert to cure those who would look at it -- and that many Christians see that deed and inspiration as a foreshadowing of Christ's own crucifixion.

I returned to the vision later as I was wondering about the mystery of pride -- and whether it was possible for any man to be without pride.  For better or worse, my wondering led me into a new spritual adventure within the worlds I perceived in the original vision (worlds that were both derived from the original vision but which emphasized different aspects), of which "The Pillar & The Snake & Time" is an account.  As I composed this long poem, I imagined the desert tribe culture as reflective of Islam and the city culture as reflective of Western Judeo-Christian culture.  I admit that at the time I composed both poems I knew very little about Islam and Islamic culture.