I should be changing the world
one inner voice keeps saying
but I seemed to decide
some time ago
to let the world change me,
an horrific thought
when courage demands
preserve the self at any cost.
Not the world of block and brick
but the hidden fire within the leaf,
the whale’s eye alive with light
to see in darkness.
Let the shaper shape
with tears and sorrow,
joy and gladness
and before I’m done be
what that cry of hope
one night long ago intended.
Exquisite!
Oh yes – my own queries follow the same course. Recently I had reason to discuss this with my brother, and it culminated in a question:” What if somehow, from somewhere, someone/s, you or I delivered the perfect plan, and we had a choice to throw our weight behind it?” … and I heard a voice inside say “No. I would not trust it. Every plan that doesn’t simply hand over direction to the shaper will have unintended consequences.” At this juncture let it all take its course. Nothing needs saving from the fire. Somehow … that’s when I hear that “cry of hope” re-emerge.
Glorious grasp of the ineffable, Don. The Shaper has shaped you into such an extraordinary poet…
Don… You are the light in the whale’s eye & the fire in the leaf & the strength in my heart…
Magnificent poem, Don. My second favorite after “Reflection.” I’ll email you a poem of mine on letting the Shaper shape. Our two poems circling around Rilke’s ancient tower.
there were no more inner voices, not even one — and everything kept changing so perfectly all on its own — letting hope shape the shaper
You gotta love the mystery! thanks Don, even here in India the shaper is shaping me up or trimming me down as the case may be.