Tuesday, September 10, 2024

The Undiscovered Country

I have seen the blueprint for the wondrous daffodil,
have trod the well-worn path through the mountain pass
to see the peaceful village of natives by the sea.

I have seen the perimeter of now and all things familiar,
have seen Newton’s apple fall into Einstein’s well.
Vanity, vanity, all is vanity, says Qoheleth.

A gyroscope spins inside my skull,
the bones of which move like tectonic plates
farther and farther away from each other.

Before this continental drift can split me into epochs
and declare that my nine innings have come and gone,
I wish to see the Lady of the Lake in her watery abode.

to pull a crystal city from a black hole
which has swallowed the detritus of the universe
and crushed it into something new, as an oyster makes a pearl.

Why does the mushroom cap enable men to talk to God?
What’s behind the Buddha’s smile, and where is Shangri-La?
I wish to see reality stripped and standing nude.

Somewhere, the ocean rolls over the edge of the world.
Flatland surely exists, for possibility must everything include.
And now that I have gotten these weighty matters off my chest,

I hope you will dance with me before I turn to dust,
for that eventuality, too, has remained beyond my grasp.
In my undiscovered country, it most certainly is a must.

~William Hammett


Site Map


No comments:

Post a Comment