Forthwith Light Ethereal: First
Of Things – Quintessence Pure²
Gold Light in Blind Love does not
Distinguish one Surface from another³
It’s a Question of Seeing so much Clearer:
Of doing to things what Light does to them⁴
Praise Song for Walking Forward in that Light⁵
Peel back the folds over your Heart and Shine into
It the Strongest Light that Streams from your Eyes⁶
Let me not shame their Sublime deportments drilled
Bright, beckoning Etruscan Invitation toward Light⁷
There’s always Light, if only we’re Brave enough
To See it – if only we’re Brave enough to Be it⁸
Perceiving above the Darkness of Ignorance
The Higher Light in the Sun – as the Higher
Light within the Heart: the bright Source of
Light & Life among the Gods, we reach the
Highest Light – yea – the Highest Light⁹
Light Dissolves Inseparably into you¹⁰
¹ Maggie Nelson, Bluets 240
² John Milton, Paradise Lost
³ Denise Levertov, Six Variations
⁴ Ursula K. Le Guin, To See
⁵ Elizabeth Alexander, Praise Song for the Day
⁶ Laura Hershey, How to Write a Poem
⁷ Emily Dickinson, Unto Like Story
⁸ Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb
⁹ Chandogya-Upanishad 3.17.7
¹⁰ Padmasambhava tr. Gyurme Dorje, The Tibetan Book of the Dead