Former Treasures
How many have even turned
to look at former treasures
beach shells or stone
the piece of smooth driftwood
or twisted bit of brightly coloured plastic
once charged with inexorable magic
those things of magnetic attraction which,
once grasped and enjoyed
fade from the mind's relish
like last week's cut flowers
Drawers full of the most useless rubbish
drawers not unlike our monstrous memories
wherein we docket what we mustn't forget
for some imperative reason
which we have long ago forgotten
But how few have seen
even for a second
the emergence of that pure delight which,
before it smothers the current object
of mystery and attraction
warms the heart
promises fulfilment
and brings life
to our dream-worn days
And how very few have let go
the grasping race for the next thing
and
ears pricked up for the faint music
just out of hearing
have turned to seek the Source
of this delight of life
in a realm apart from the great bulk
and weight of things
which die in our hands
In a region unmapped
or which must be mapped anew
by each new traveller who thus
stumbles on the first meadow
beneath the foothills
in the mountains of his own soul
Phil Dubuque |
Seeing Life
Infant - Preconscious Seer
It all began with light and sound
I was nowhere to be found
Wonder filled with touch and sight
Moving toward the warmth and light
Child - I Have Both Views
I'm older now, this is fun
I'm everywhere, the only one
All I see is filled with joy
I play at being a little boy
Youth - Losing My Space
What is this? I'm losing touch
Don't know what I miss so much
Something big and very pure
That left me feeling strong and sure
Walk out on a different world
Around my space confusion swirled
Among the many I'm just one
The moon has just eclipsed the sun
Teenager - Getting A Face
Join the club, here's your face
Pay your dues, forget you're space
Get in line and take your place
You're signed up for the human race
Now it's greed and fear and shame
That go together with my name
With pride at others I defeat
And craving praise from those I meet
Young Adult - Beginning To Doubt
I try with all my might to see
From their eyes as they look at me
But all that I can ever do
Is guess at how they see the view
It's so much work and worry to
Imagine, think and guess at who
The young man is who has my name
Is who I really am the same?
Adult - Turning Around
I try to picture with my mirror
The way they tell me I appear
Divided now I strive to be
What everyone expects of me
Before I die I'll dare to see
The way that I appear to me
My bathroom mirror holds the clue
To a very different view
Adult Seer - open Again
The man I look at gazes out
I let my own view turn about
What a shock to find I lack
A face at my end looking back!
In a place with others near
I look down at my body here
Unlike them I find instead
The one in my shoes has no head!
Child Again - Seeing Remembered
Could this be what I used to know?
The view I lost so long ago?
How odd that this allays my fear
The simple act of looking here
For it's a fearful thing to do
To be the one things happen to
What a difference this has been
I'm the One things happen in!
Living Seeing - Reclaiming My Self
My face is yours and welcome to it
Yours is mine, you always knew it
Now I take my rightful place
The world is in my empty Space
In the end it's light and sound
I am nowhere to be found
Wonder filled with touch and sight
My home the Source of warmth and light
Phil Dubuque |
