- 1.
- The voice said the volcano
- would stop erupting
- in two or three weeks
- and would then settle down
- to a peaceful life in the woods
- once again.
- After two or three weeks
- the voice said the volcano
- was still trying to calm itself
- and further eruptions
- were possible but unlikely.
- After six or seven weeks the voice
- said the volcano
- was unpredictably inclined
- to further violence,
- but the collective desire for order
- would certainly have
- a soothing effect.
- After ten or twelve weeks
- the voice said the volcano
- had no scruples and
- would continue to do whatever
- it damn well pleased.
- 2.
- This is like a sailboat
- on a bay with no breeze.
- There is motion
- yet no movement—
- the boat rocks as if
- to steady itself only.
- 3.
- In simple language
- we repeat ourselves—
- a daily expression
- for a daily phenomenon—
- the sun rises and
- we wake without excuse—
- a rhythm is established—
- something to measure
- distance and age—
- we are pawns in no one’s game—
- the simple truths
- are fleeting at best.
- The epidemic of existence
- inflicts its weary wounds
- on new minds
- time
- after time
- after time . . .
- 4.
- after time
- we can only look behind us.
- Time doesn’t pass us by—
- we pass through it
- on the way to oblivion.
- If we had any conception
- of it, we would call it
- something else,
- like refrigerator.
- 5.
- This moment is a timeless entity—
- frozen its parameters—
- imperturbable and silly
- like an ice skater in a spin
- or some flotsam in a whirlpool.
- How can we move the moment
- to a logical conclusion
- of eternal verité
- when dwarves and tightrope walkers
- insist on being seen
- in the light of eternal transition?
- 6.
- In the history of histories,
- the greatest misconception of all time
- will never be recorded.