from silence and darkness all bursts forth in a single vibration
in the beginning was spoken an infinite oscillation of thought and form the gong
a reverberation of apparent motion without time a complete past present future one
a sizzling field of potential fulminating with ecstatic tendencies toward the sublime

a lone car one headlight out snakes its way slowly up the narrow switchbacks
a jagged cliff face forms one tunnel wall the rest a vast inky obscuration
all my life i have believed in this car its ability to deliver me unconditionally
to the apex of the ascent grinding now into first gear transmission groaning as we lurch onward

gravel spits out over the shoulder a musical clinking disappearing act into the far below
the hill has steepened to such a degree it feels like a towering billboard too much in my face
i try to discern what meaning might be sprawled upon it something that should be huge, obvious
hiding in the midst of itself as dust gusts upward like smoke flung from a censer may it please thee

slowly so slowly we creep i see us from afar a flickering candle floating as though almost stationary
swaying a bit our yellowish headlight unseen a moment as a boulder careens crazily to suicide below
and suddenly the summit outlined against a ghostly sky comes into view the dust swoops suddenly ahead
into air where the car soon follows full of my beliefs the trunk and back seat stuffed with certain creeds

i thought it would be fine to bring just the hopeful happy ones that kept me going during times when
i knew the only tracks in the sand had to be mine no one else had treads like the pattern i left behind
but anyway guess i was wrong again this trip will end with a bang of shattered glass and lost dreams
mid air i cease to plan or hope and wake up to the fact of my impending sure-to-be-crushing transition

and then there is only stillness, scintillating dust motes, a holy host suspended in a single light
a canyon bottom that was never found in the surrender of thought crystalline water gathers and gleams

snow melt settles into its weight tumbles all the way down to a distant deep lake full of starlight and moon

©John Greenleaf-Maple – text and art 6/23/17