In Our Hands Everything - But Worlds
In Our Hands Everything - But Worlds
On nights like this,
When the air is clear,
When no shrouds of covers
Blanket the Earth,
I could,
I could stay with God till dawn,
Looking up,
I see a million twinkles -
A million jewels
To comfort - inner thoughts,
Each dancing to distant
Mesmerising synths that
Tell of only wonder;
Open all my senses and
Make repeating invocations;
Intonations that sweep
Majestically through deepest
Velvet - sky.
My vision no longer blind,
I’m looking through feral eyes
That once roamed an Earth –
Plentiful with bounty for all,
But then,
On looking up again,
Looking up and beyond,
Pausing and cajoling
A cynics detrimental skill;
My twenty-first century gaze –
Falling back within
Its stubborn reality,
Can only see dots,
Dots we all know,
For we have them mapped –
A conquest for Mankind’s
Insignificance in being
As he lusts for totalitarian
Control,
Here I am,
And caught within
An honesty – a man dares
Never let show upon his
Brethren,
I’m feeling like the very dot
I’m asking - for a full on
Glance at Earth,
Alas,
My home,
This house upon
A terraced prison
Of brick and mortar;
Makes difficult
The notion that I could
Look back down upon
This ball with wonder
As I look now upon the stars
And from this unholy vantage,
I guess I will always be,
Always remain as giant as humans
Be upon this Earth;
The shortest of the tall
Whose grasp;-
Far exceeds his reach.
Michael J Waite 13th May 2014.
Harry O'Neill
Sun 25th May 2014 23:59
I noted this for a closer look.
That first, (clearing the earth?) section is
an excellently clarifying introduction to
the (temporarily?) godlike viewpoint of
the poem.
The second section with its twinkling inter-
change of light and sound dancing to the
(harmonising?) `mesmerising synths` call to
mind a kind of `music of the spheres` which
is also helped by the `intonations` and `velvet
sky` to give an effect of deep harmoniousness.
In section three The word `feral` (to us) is too near the word ferocious to serve the time of primordial (all seeing?) innocence that I think the poet is speaking of.
In the fourth the poet is back in his twenty first century `detrimental` (scientific?) persona which he regards as `stubborn reality` (and which ruins the `poetical` appeal of the primordial?)
In the fifth the poet seems to be ashamed of the lapse of his `honesty` in wanting a `full on Glance at earth`.
The sixth is a kind of coming down to earth and
bricks and mortar humility about the wonder of
the stars and ordinariness of life.
In the last – despite his unholy vantage` of being the `shortest of the tall` the poet nevertheless remains a `giant`
Sorry about the analyzing but I thought that this treatment of Browning`s `man`s grasp exceeding his reach` was well worth it.
Appreciated.