Nov 10 2023
Jay Ramsay – I saw a great light come down over London
I saw a great light come down over London
by Jay Ramsay
I saw a great light come down over London,
And buildings and cars and people were still
They were held wherever they were under the sky’s
Clear humming radiance as it descended —
Everywhere, in shops, behind desks and on trains
Everything stopped as the stillness came down
And touched the crown of our heads
As our eyes closed, and the sky filled us
And our minds became the sky —
And everyone, regardless of crime class or creed
Was touched; as slowly we began to stir
Out of this penetrated light-filled sleep
Dizzily as the hand completed its dialing,
And the train lurched forward
And I saw faces looking at one another questioning,
I saw people meeting eye to eye and standing
Half amazed by each other’s presence
I saw their mouths silently shaping the word why
Why didn’t we know this? and yet knowing
They already knew, and without words
We all stood searching for the gesture
That would say it —
As the lights went green, and we drove on.
— from The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology), Edited by Ivan M. Granger
/ Image by Chad Walton /
I only recently discovered that Jay Ramsay died a few years ago. Though I never met him in person, there was a period when we conversed via email. He was warm-hearted and brought an infectious enthusiasm to his poetic endeavors. In hindsight, I suspect that he knew his time on this earth was limited and he wanted to do what good he could in the time he had. A good reminder to us all. We may not all know our departure date, but we are visitors, not permanent residents. Best to stop distracting ourselves and do what we came here to do. Offer a helping hand. Share a smile. Do what the soul always wanted to do. And discover the secret heart of things.
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I was a poor child, but raised in an affluent area of Southern California. Several of my friends lived in large houses, with manicured lawns, some with swimming pools in their back yards. My friends had two parents, while I was raised by a single mother. They had family dinner times, Sunday church or Saturday temple, went on family vacations together.
They were living the “normal” life, the American upper middle-class ideal. And I had a strange relationship with their world — I craved its stability, the things and experiences my friends had that I didn’t, but their normalcy was also foreign to me, even a bit eerie. It just didn’t seem real to me somehow. In some ways I wanted it, but I didn’t want to be snared by it.
By the time I was a teenager, I became obsessed with seeing through the facades of that “normal” reality. I wanted to know what secrets were hidden away in the overlooked shadows. I became interested in everything from meditation to history to science to linguistics — all ways of trying to understand the hidden meaning behind the world that everyone takes for granted.
…And I was also fascinated by the phenomenon of UFOs.
I think that’s one of the things I really like about this poem — it can be read as a collective moment of awe, or of spiritual awakening, but it can just as easily suggest a city-wide encounter with a UFO. That’s the first thing I think of reading this poem. It’s not really clear what is happening, just that there is a shared moment of stillness and wonderment. Everyone stops and is confronted with a dazzling, otherworldly reality. What’s actually happening seems less important than the shared experience. Not only is this a witnessing of something that transcends the day-to-day existence, but there is also a recognition of fundamental connection with everyone else. To me it is almost the opposite of a terrorist event; instead of tragedy, everyone comes together in a unifying moment of bliss and amazement.
Then, of course, the lights turn green, and the business of living continues. But perhaps those people carry with them just a bit more sacred wonder into their daily activities… and who knows the many subtle, far-reaching ways it will continue to radiate out through their lives? This is how private experiences of transformation — otherworldy or of the inner world — quietly transform the world.
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Jay Ramsay
England (1959 – 2019) Timeline |
Jay Ramsay is a British poet and psychotherapist.
He has been on the poetry scene over the last 25 years as a voice for transformative spiritual, political and psychological awareness. He has been described as “England’s foremost transformation poet” (Caduceus magazine, 2007). He believes that poetry has a unique, catalytic role in our culture.
Jay has edited poetry for Kindred Spirit (1997-2004), Caduceus (2002-), and More to Life (2006). More recently he has been poet-in-residence at St James’ Church, Piccadilly in London (2005-6).
Anamnesis is now available on CD (recorded with Tibetan bowls) from www.lotusfoundation.org.uk, the website also has the texts of the 16 poems, written monthly over the period.
More recently he has completed a residency in the Sinai desert for the Makhad Trust (March 2010) with a sequence of poems and photographs (see www.makhad.org) which will be published and exhibited, and also for the church at North Stoke near Bath (July-August 2010) for Martin Palmer at ICOREC/ARC. www.arcworld.org
Jay Ramsay has written many individual collections including Kingdom of the Edge (New & Selected Poems 1980-1998; Element Books, 1999), some classic Chinese translations Tao Te Ching, I Ching, Kuan Yin; Element, 1993/HarperCollins, 1995), and two acclaimed prose books about alchemy (1997 and 2005), he has also edited four anthologies of New British Poetry: Angels of Fire – an anthology of radical poetry, commissioned by Andrew Motion (Chatto & Windus, 1986), Transformation – the poetry of spiritual consciousness (RGP, 1988), Earth Ascending – an anthology of living poetry, 55 Contemporary British Poets (Stride, 1997), and Into the Further Reaches – an anthology of Contemporary British Poetry celebrating the spiritual journey (64 poets: PS Avalon, 2007).
His latest collections are Out of Time, Poems 1998-2008 (PSAvalon), The Poet in You (O Books) and Places of Truth (Awen).
Thank You Ivan !
(For me :-)….
Wonder and Awe….
especially SHARED Wonder and Awe……
are truly ‘sacred moments’ …..
(whatever their ’cause’ may be 🙂
And especially……
at this time in our world,
precious gifts to RE-member….. and share forward…..
Namaste dear one…
Ivan,
I hope that you have come to treasure your life and realized the middle class wealth of your childhood did not detract from your own family beginnings. I hope you have seen through the trappings of materialism in order to value deeper meaning and purpose in your life.
I interpreted the poem to be a reflection of spiritual transformation descending upon the world and a simple smile of love being the gesture of recognition given to one another. One can hope
Namaste 🙏
Thank you Ivan, for sharing some events of where you grew up, the circumstances that brought you to search more deeply…it is a gift you were given and you now generously share in Poetry Chaikana .
Today is 11:11. Some say it is a day the portal between worlds opens wider, the veils between worlds thin. I sense that’s what Jay Ramsey was expressing through
this poem.
I don’t know..I do know that as I grow in years, the values change, transform.
If we can transform the darkness in hearts that manifests in cruelty,
I ardently set the intention to transform the dark to the light, the green light , to move on in a deeper inner and outer expression of Love. May it be so.
Thank you & blessings ….Maria
angel Ivan
you chose this pattern to heal hearts around the world..
we are not born to join rat race
we are CATs- Cosmic Angelic Tourists
passing through planet earth
our mortal body is SLV soul launching vehicle
we are love and light
we shine ever bright
Dear Ivan, When our lives get too busy, a moment with this poem is healing. Thank
You. I really like the thought that even with private moments of transformation, they can quietly transform the world.