(I)
Eyes reach into a distance
no body can attain, and place
a mark at intervals of space
and time. Eyes inhabit a region
in which descending shafts of
darkness momentarily blend with
ascending shafts of light, and
they both illumine and darken
the world. Then they vanish
from each other’s presence, and
disappear into their particular
colors and shapes. This is our Reality:
to be alive to sensation and wonder.
(II)
The magic begins at dusk:
spiritual eyes have been
patiently blind, and now
they assert their traits:
being soundless, weightless,
scentless, they glide
through the heaviness of Nature,
like a Vedic priest’s knife slicing
the sacrificial butter. They stretch
further into the Night, and arrive
on immense plains where they envision
cities rise up against the power of
Nature with the power of Humanity.
Nature is a stream of both physical
and spiritual lights, united to make
both Night and Day prosper in their
alteration. Then Humanity enters this Reality:
under the branches of the sky, they rush
into love and hate, learn true lessons,
and try to make to make two become one.
Above the roots of the ground, they gather together,
possessed of love and hate, and make a dwelling
for both solitude and company. And they become
One Reality, sometimes dark and sometimes light.
* This phrase from A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM reveals the ambiguity of
how and what eyes see.
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