Map of The World

When I see you, I see a landscape photograph
 
of nature, weathered by environment,
 
tired by existence, beaten by the wind.
 
 
 
Beautiful and earthly, but something is tweaked,
 
hidden well but present, whispering for surface
 
and recognition, beggingpleadingstrugglingsearching
 
 
 
Diving into the ocean beneath, I am surrounded
 
 by images: Arrangements of colors spilled
 
into patterns, recounting, remembering. Lives and death.
 
 
 
I swim through seas of words. Some scream
 
and some hum. Some melt my flesh or chill my blood
 
but chiefly they teach and I absorb. I eat my fill.
 
 
 
Vast and busy, I take notes of the mechanisms organizing
 
and formulating. It is fascinating? - you are fascinating.
 
Yet disarray exudes a certain aura, so I continue on.
 
 
 
I stumble upon two pools, made murky by soil--
 
more satisfying than any hue of blue-- and with a cautious
 
toe I test the water.  It is baby-milk warm.  I jump in.
 
 
 
I see.  Acquaintances pass by, duties fulfill, elderly cross
 
streets. Children whine, food digests, forced chuckles and grins
 
are routine. I see monotony.  I see life.  I am saddened.
 
 
 
The water is chilling for a brief moment, and again I see.
 
Empty promises, mocking words, Hurt; frozen by the icy
 
stare.  I see hate.  I see The World.  I am sorry.
 
 
 
I see again, but I no longer see.  I feel.  Violently boiling,
 
pleasantly scorching. I feel fear.  I feel heated passion and brilliant
 
music.  I feel raw anger.  I see drive.  I see myself. I am smitten.
 
 
 
Stepping out, I am dried quickly by the warm inhalations
 
and exhalations of the wind.  I see a hanging bag.  I do
 
not touch it.  I am tickled by the vibrations of your speech.
 
 
 
I take a leap into your veins, sweeping down the bubbling red
 
river with gusto.  I fly through The World on the superhighway,
 
speeding along effortlessly, freely! and then i am stopped.
 
 
 
Scar tissue.  I reach out to touch the barricade -- it has
 
hardened.  Just Like You.  As I run my fingertips over it repeatedly
 
I want to understand.  It tells me of desperation, anguish, destruction.
 
and i weep.
 
 
 
Never again, I scream! Never again, but I am too late.
 
I glance around me and see more trees lying broken, blocking
 
each path.  I am trapped.  Is this how you felt?  I imagine--
 
and i have never loved You more.
 
 
 
Muddled and sorrowful, I want to comfort you.  But is it
 
your wish or only mine?  My wish is to show you the nature
 
of The World through the eyes of a star, burning through the night. For you.
 
 
 
The World is mountainous, broad, tall, strong.  Wildlife grows
 
and is tested and deflowered but still it grows nonetheless.
 
A lion roars from a jungle deep within, tearing through the walls between
 
 
 
Clouds protect when they can but when they cannot,
 
The World is wise.  Knowledge seeps through the ground like drops
 
of rain and nourishes the lowly, hungry roots beneath.  Inside.
 
 
 
Let me back inside, for I want to map The World
 
until no path is untaken and no bone left unworshipped
 
by a traveler, a root, a star, who lives to enrich and satisfy
 
The World.