I.
Diminish into majesty
And be weak to be strong
So weak as to be gasping
For breath, another breath
That will get you on your legs
To face the disappearance again.
You are your only obstacle
And when the I is annihilated,
Hope remains.
The stars disappear,
One by one,
Twinkling stars,
Little stars,
One by one
First the light of a cheerful sky,
Then the fellowship of mundane mirth,
Then the eyes and the light,
And superimposed realities
And the night itself
One by one
In pugnacious, noisy exits,
One by one
Hope is the puny thing with feathers,
A flying bird shot down
Sorry, but chill - it’s not all burnt yet.
You’re not the one who
You once were, nor are you
Who you should be.
You are a muddled up mess
Of yourself. Get yourself straightened out
C’mon round here,
Take the road right here,
The narrow one,
Or the one over here
The one that is no road at all
I know you ain’t ready
For the first one yet,
So buck up, get yourself together
(To tear yourself apart)
Don’t be such a sloth.
We all have to go this way,
If we wanna get real light
Of all this, whatever this
is
(So tear yourself apart)
You are not what you were meant to be
The regale king lives in elfin fatuity
Rage against yourself
At the bathetic hebetude of your existence
For the regale king lives in distracted absurdity
Take a breath, and exist
Be, be what you are,
Not what you were or will be
But what you are
And what you were meant to be
And O, although this is night,
The night will not hold
Ignorance is the wisdom of the light
You know nothing, do you realize?
You are nothing, do you see?
Come to this fountain of wisdom, follow me
Or watch me lead myself
II.
Hubris is a number of stones
Tied to one’s arms and legs
And you jump into the river of your illusions
You’re now under the water,
Drowning and gasping
for breath
For goodness’ sake,
What are you waiting for? Fight!
Fight and struggle and rage,
For your struggle begins here
Break free of those nasty stones,
And the cords, and save yourself –
You are all that you have –
Save your life, or what’s left of it,
Something, anything
Ah, I see from the shore
That you have broken out,
And are floundering at the surface,
Gasping for precious breath.
Very pleasant and satisfactory,
You have saved yourself,
Or what’s left of yourself -
Or so you think so.
The fight is only beginning, really –
The war’s right over there,
Round the corner, turn right
After the decrepit buildings
But that’s all later, of course.
Now, follow the man on the shore,
Who is actually yourself.
In the distance you see
The approaching enemy army,
Innumerable but not insurmountable
Your enemy is no less mighty.
Don’t be afraid – fight
And you know you have to
You do not know who the enemy is
But fight you have to
You know you have to
The two armies rushing to each other
Each somewhat familiar to the other,
And you recognize the enemy:
Yourself.
You fight anyway.
Follow yourself into yourself,
Where the war is
Destroy all within reach
And salvage what you can.
And at the end of it all
You’re lying there, gasping –
Wounded, but victorious
You attempt a ghost of a smile
Then, blackout
III.
The glass filled with water
Is neither half-empty nor half-full
But only mere illusion
Do not be struck by the geography of the words
Words lead you nowhere,
Give you nothing
Wriggling out of the theses and antitheses
And the stating of facts and their negation,
Stop all that – too confusing
There’s something better – the truth
The way to existence is its annihilation
The way to yourself is away
Close your eyes, and you can see
Open your eyes and be blind again.
You are now not who you were
You will never be what you were
You are not and thus you are
Well. That was a periphrastic way of
Telling you that you are not
There yet, wherever there
is
You are halfway in the middle of
Nowhere, and still you are somewhere
Look, young fellow, you’ve stumbled into
Your morgue or something,
So shut up and let the
Roadside mystics and street philosophers
Perform the exequies. Stay put
Now is no time to ask the mirror,
“Who’s the weakest of ‘em all?”
Stay put, where you are,
Or where you are not
You may be here or there or anywhere,
But you are nought.
Walk away from your sorry self
To reach yourself, that’s the best advice
I can give you or myself.
Oh whatever. We been talking too long.
Buck up, and follow.
And O, although this
is night
At the mathematical centre of the
Spherical universe is the still point,
The point that does not expand nor implode
But is still and at peace
As calm as is the eye of every storm
The still point that is both motionless
And moving at the speed of light
For it is light itself
And this surrounding storm
Deserves itself, is willful
For creation is not yet at peace
The universe revolves around this light
Would you care to see it?
You are the weakest of
them all.
IV.
Time is non-existent , a desultory myth
That primitives cooked up; Realize –
History is measured in a series of lives
Short lives, long lives, bright ones, dark ones
All festooned with smiles, tears and the lot
If you want to escape the tyranny
Of living in history, follow me, or watch me lead myself
Rise above the smiles and the tears
And be transfigured once and for all
Live with one foot in time, one foot out
Dancing all the while in this dance called existence
For the secret to life is the celebration of existence
So dance now and dance forever,
Dance quick and dance long
Geworfenheit.
You have been thrown into the dance.
Dance to exist, to save yourself
Come celebrate existence and not disaster
Do not stay chirping at the sky and the trees
And the clouds and the breeze
Do not be captivated by the wisdom and the folly of man
Search deep, past the depths,
Into the meaning of existence
Or the existence of meaning
I do not know which,
I do not care which,
For I know nothing, I feel nothing,
I am nothing -
Follow me.
V.
And where are we going, you ask me
We are going to the center of the dance,
To the whiteness and the light
And the beauty and the purity
And the power and the peace
And the joy.
This is another kind of sublimity
You have heard of this road all your life
Perhaps you have known this road before
This road so squeezed that we walk in single file
Yet when we walk it, it seems
We have never known it
Only transfigured sight can see and
Comprehend without burning
What none understand
The light that is more than light:
A sheer effulgence of fellowship.
Feel the immanence of the light,
For we are close to where we should be –
To the heart of reality
Be born in this blinding light
And feel the pain and the simplicity
Relish the utter poverty of not belonging to oneself
And be born in this effulgence
Yes, a dream deferred explodes forever
And what we crave is not what comes to pass
The right concoction of resignation
And fiery ambition is the white water
That will tame your thirst for glory
The stars disappear, twinkling little stars
One by one
But hope remains – do not explode
We are there at last, at the end of the road
And you see sheer Light smiling at you
With a smile that was always there
And the night will not
hold
