The Tomwampi
(A Dakota Souix term, meaning "the True appearance of the world.")
Beneath the water
The true shape bends away
Behind your mirror
Your real face looks out.
With masks and shadows
Seeming substance
We build our daylight veil
To shade us from the glare
Of manifold Perfection,
The Janus-face of Heaven/Hell
Through which we pass unknowing
On our wandering walk back home.
Down the dark steps
In the night chambers of dreams
The real ground opens out
There we find the trails
That lead to truth,
But we forget them with the day
When the shield of common beauty
Falls all around again; we pick our way once more
Through the shimmering fog
Which only clears for ecstasy or sleep;
For this life is our tracking school
In it we must hunt ourselves.
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