Experiment II

Find yourself in the light

And now a search comes upon the poem,

A search already possessed by what it searches for:

Floundering in the hallucination of its darkness,

Illuminated by the Light it tries to create.

 

(You are this Light

That illuminates the darkness of the search

For a light that it seeks to make

In place of the One by which it searches.)

 

It turns to the poem for guidance

Or amusement or distraction,

In its effort to create the light

It assumes itself to be.

 

(But this end that its ideal proclaims

Lies disobeyed by the means prescribed:

No search could find the light it tries to create

Unless it surrenders itself to the present from which Light shines)

 

If the search stepped into this Light

And ceased its attempt to replace it,

As if to own or dominate it,

Its light would burn.

 

(Here the search abolishes itself

As it ends its violent struggle:

As light-in-Light it finds its way to peace

And surrenders its hallucination of control to truth.)

Author's Note

I found this passage the day after I finished this poem: “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” John 1:9. Note: capitalization matters!

Reviews

[Gilad Levanon]

Ah, again you've breathed vital words of wisdom. This poem to me expresses one of the big mistakes mankind makes. It refers to how some of us tend to search for something we already have but are somehow unaware of. This is the delusion of placing one's satisfaction under the prerequisite of something in the future. In other words, the delusion that we are moving towards a point in the future where everything will be as we want it to be. The reality, as you have poetically expressed, is that there is no such point in the future and therefore it can never be reached. The reality is that we must learn to be satisfied, even excited, by what we are already, in the present. Then do we learn that what we were seeking was an illusion from the beginning.
"Unless it surrenders itself to the present from which Light shines"

Apart from the wisdom shared in this poem, I particularly enjoyed the abstract metaphor. This idea of a light trying to find a light, by means of using its' own light is a fantastic expression of the idea you're putting across. Also, the connection to the concept of the poem, resonates closely with my own experience of spinning poems when I waiver in my effort to live out the wisdom in them.

[*~*Butterfly Kisses*~*]

I loved this. A true masterpiece with several meanings that can be taken from this write. But it loud and honest, yet strong and powerful. Awesome write.

[discombobulate]

God, I've been looking through your poetry and I'm absolutely enchanted. You have an utterly beautiful way with words.

[TWISTED NIGHTMARE]

i like this it has this feeling that i can't explain... but still amazing poem and i love the reference from the passage