An Essay On Windows
Closer now we inch to peek
Our face pressed to the window pane
Reach out? We won't, just gaze oblique
A fool's attempt to ascertain
A solid veil through which we see
and yet through which we will not pass
So crystal clear, it lets us be
content to stay behind the glass
So easy, yes, to trick the heart
into a cozy reverie
that outside things play mere bit-part
as non-essential filigree
adorning what we hold so dear
tenacious notions in our eyes
As our breath clouds the glass in fear
we look yet we are none the wise
So in a vain pursuit we wipe
sfumato specters overlain
that paint a hazy phenotype
with breath's fine mist upon the pane
And yet our likeness lingers still
like ghostly shadow cast upon
the world, bare truth it aims to kill
and resurrect a changeling on
that altar which we hide behind
Born with fair beauty, charm and wit
that changeling certitude will find
of skeptic's musings, not a whit
"And yet," we utter, self assured,
"MY wit and breadth of mind have passed
these bounds, oh yes, I'm surely cured
of willful ignorance at last"
~~ So confident we are not blinkered
~~ Yet blind that we ourselves have tinkered
~~ With truths contrary to heart's caprice
~~ That we, arrived at OUR truth's brink, heard
flying out in notes of gold
Caught in heart's twisted web, accursed
and turned to something base, behold!
A shameful alchemy reversed
To take that which is plain to see
and hear with our own eyes and ears
Scrap all with which we disagree
Those truths that animate our fears
Let go your mirrors and your smoke!
Embrace what you'd sooner assail
Though shattered glass does pierce and poke
and open window greets the gale
Tis less a shame to face our faults
with dauntless curiosity
than dance a self-admiring waltz
round truths scattered in paucity.
Copyright © Carolyn Fish | Year Posted 2017
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