Enlightened

Outside the strait my thoughts intrude
To the left a circus & right, a muse
& to a world who might conclude
Let poesy paint my dream to you:

“I must let drop these suspended shams
That loop around like recycled noise.
I must un-learn my mouth and hands
& begin again with naked poise.
Dear brothers, sisters, dear precious ones,
The words I spoke before told lies,
The only earth I know so well
Is that tier in which my own heart hides.

“No cherry rose or lyre am I,
No perfect beauty that relieves the sky,
Human heart with auxiliary eyes,
Transient wisdom flirting with time.
These heavens I sense close by,
These apparitions inside my mind,
A cataract bleeding silently onto sight,
My only proof that I’m alive.

“O that sweet, musical breeze
That conveys to all a common song,
Comprehending the races with dreamlike ease
As it sails in and out of every lung.
The difference then lies in the span of wings,
My soul harmonizing the air,
As I am swayed to fold my limbs
In seamless grace & exalt the world with care.

“What lies beyond this pretense?
An ethereal sigh perceiving the touch
Of beauty on my flesh & whence
Came this dispersion of much
Feeling, madness if you do consider,
To converse with the unreal world as this
Brings a storm of insecurity hither
As divination seems to seldomly exist.

“Yet, a dagger I’ve adopted
In the bosom of my sense;
It twists with every lofted
Insight to magnificence—
O that I can suffer the ache of you,
You humans, & you weeping skies.
Heaven & Hell I can enlighten
In an honest tear that escapes my eye.”