If Heaven Was The End We Sought

If heaven was the end we sought
And our destiny
Then life would simply come to naught
And we would cease to be;

For those tragectories we trace,
High as we have to soar,
The heavens cannot be the place
That we are looking for.

They only make us want to come
Back down to earth again,
Right back to where we started from,
To seek the surface plane;

While, going up the steep ascent,
It isn't for the sky;
To find out what on earth it meant,
Here, is the answer why.

We Look Into What We Can't See

We look into what we can't see
Because it isn't plain
And must be looked into, to be
Brought to a conscious plane;

For that, which isn't obvious,
Behind the surface lies,
That sought for, will be shown to us
By what we recognize;

Things aren't only what they are,
The way that they appear;
A telescope can take a star
And make it extra clear.

The way we see what lies behind
That which comes to the fore
Requires us to seek and find
The deep things we look for.

Columbus Aiming For Cathay

Columbus, aiming for Cathay,
Sailed on his voyage west
Which he believed the straightest way
For furthering his quest.

He would have gotten there but for
One continent between
Two oceans and the nearest shore;
The first that he had seen.

The land was yet without a name
That he had come to see
But if he'd fallen short his aim
For his discovery

All men are richer for the trip
Columbus took who crossed
The ocean sailing on his ship
For what he found when lost.

When I Have That In Memory

When I have that in memory
I had but once in sight
Though I have lost it I can see
It by an inward light;

If I am steeped in darkness now
But I remember when
I saw something, no matter how
It looked to me back then,

I know that once it has been seen,
Though what I saw is past
That sight remains the major mean
To make its moment last;

Although it stays invisible,
Removed from outward sense
Insight and longing for light will
Deliver it from thence.

Look At The Stars Up In The Sky

Look at the stars up in the sky
Where they remain so far
We have no notion where they lie
But only that they are

Removed from us so far away
That from a piece of ground
We know that they have where to stay
For what we have around:

A backdrop to us down below
Or, if you will, a dome
Where up above us lamps aglow
Make us feel more at home

Or less, depending more on how
We look for what we see
At what's up there that but for now
Suggest eternity.

Behind Whatever We Can See

Behind whatever we can see
Something is out of view
That if it's seen can only be
Once it is looked into;

For otherwise, it isn't there
Or there to no effect,
Unless we bring a thought to bear
And make it a prospect.

For looking in or looking out
We look for what is more
Than happens to be round about
Us--that is, we look for

The idea which cannot be seen
Without concerned intent
To figure out what it might mean,
Wondering what it meant.

What Lay Behind Discovery

What lay behind discovery
Was not a search for gold;
Columbus sailed across the sea
For new things to behold.

Columbus Sailed The Ocean For

Columbus sailed the ocean for
Its other side to see
Yet what he came to was no shore
But for discovery.

When Galileo turned his glance
His glass could magnify
One infinitely deep expanse
Beyond the evening sky.

Behind Its Trees The Forest Lies

Behind its trees the forest lies
Just out of open view
In what we cannot but surmise
Must be the forest too;

But for them standing in between
Us and what we'd look at
The forest, that cannot be seen,
Cannot be seen for that.

Because the forest lies behind
The trees we can't ignore
It, being teased, and so inclined
To seek what it hides for;

For us to draw from what we see
The sense of some intent
That's just too deep for it to be
Seen, so it must be meant.

In Mid-October Late At Night

In mid-October, late at night
Columbus on the deck
Observed across the sea a bright,
Considerable speck;

Aware that it could only mean
A fire had been lit,
In that direction it was seen
Columbus steered for it.

It was a momentary flame
And vanished at a glance
But having seen it steeled his aim
And steadied his advance.

The apparition and its glow
Encouraged him to mark
His bearings by, to steer as though
It still shone in the dark.

The light was proof of fire where
No fire ought to be
Unless what he saw over there
Proved he had crossed the sea;

And since he followed in its wake
Although it shone no more
It proved the gleam was no miistake
That ushered him ashore.

It Doesn't Matter What We See

It doesn't matter what we see
So much as that we do
And that by seeing we are free
Of what is within view;

Whether or not we recognize
The things that we preceive,
That what's before our very eyes
We do in fact believe;

That, whether it is what it is
Or something else instead
One thing for sure we cannot miss:
That it's been seen indeed;

That something has come into sight
And that the medium
We see it by has to be light
And that is all and some.

Although They May Be Very High

Although they may be very high
The heavens can't contain
The heights the sky is measured by
Inside the human brain.

While we depend on what we see
To judge about how far
The farthest object has to be
It isn't by a star

That we can reach the boundless sense
Of something farther out
Than we have an idea of whence
And what it is about.

We Get A Sense Of Boundlessness

We get a sense of boundlessness
By looking in the dark
And seeing more out there or less
Of what is but a spark;

A glimpse of something--nothing but
A momentary flare
That one can't say exactly what
It's doing over there

Yet whatsoever it may be
And it might be about
There is no doubt it has been seen
By us who point it out.

For Every Star That You Can See

For every star that you can see
Beyond it are far more
That simply counted cannot be
At last accounted for,

Yet after all the stars are told
Space that is over there
Has endless room for more to hold
Though it is nearly bare;

So that astronomy makes clear
How vast is Outer space
Of which so little does appear
From our time and place,

Of which we seem in constant need
Though we have overmuch
Of what we do with it, indeed,
We barely keep in touch.

The Deeper Into Space We Peer

The deeper into space we peer
The farther we can see
The farther out we want to steer
To end up where we'd be;

It makes no difference how far out
We go to speculate
Or how far in we probe about
For what we penetrate

Is not just space but it is more
Than we seek, looking through
The telescope, but what it's for
Is finding out what's true;

For in our kinship with all things
We recognize the bond
That binds us with them, lends us wings
To reach what lies beyond.

Since Everything Derives from One

Since everything derives from one
Beyond them over all
That when compared to it are none
And into nothing fall,

We should not be astonished by
The kinship of all kinds
Bound by that universal tie
That altogether binds.

The miniscule and the immense
As far as we can see,
By the refractions of a lens
Show unanimity

That's omnipresent whether near
Or off so very far;
For over there or over here
All is right where we are.

Their Eyes Upon The Heavens

Their eyes upon the heavens
And feet upon the ground
Through sharpening their visions
By telescope they found
Beyond them distant regions
They started to explore
Where there were stars in legions
That no one saw before.

And others quite impossible
To see because their light
Was too dark to be visible
Yet staying out of sight
It could be heard made audible
In waves they did transmit
From regions that would not be still
For, they were in transit.

Their telescoped perspective
Gave them a chance to see
That light could be connective
With their own ancestry;
That looking out their eyes would give
Out on an ancient star
To glimpse the past that they'd retrieve
By looking back so far

That past time became present when
The light they looked into
Was quite as much of now as then,
For what was coming through
Was just as much as here as there
And nothing came between
Them and the moment they could share
Believing what they'd seen.
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For, What More Do We Have Than That

For, what more do we have than that
To rest awhile upon
When we grow weary looking at
The stars up over yon;

The ground is there for us to rest
Our feet on or our backs;
To stand up when we're at our best
Or lie down and relax;

The stars are there no matter what
We do on clearest nights
And better open eyes than shut
To focus on those heights

That dizzy us by what we see
In looking out so far;
But that's how it's supposed to be,
At least from where we are.

The Universe We Know About

The universe we know about
Is mostly an unknown
But we have reason to look out
To see what it has shown;

And we have reason to explore
What we can look into;
Although we don't know what it's for
We are vouchsafed a view

Of something farther out than we
Can ever comprehend
We're given eyes with which to see
It but not to the end;

And though we can't make up our mind
About what it may mean
We know that something lies behind
Whatever we have seen.

The World Beyond Us Beggars Thought

The world beyond us beggars thought
But for its unity
That in its essence we have sought
Through multiplicity

To find in every aspect one
Firm basis for what's true
That like an axis has to run
And pierce the planet through.

All difference found in between
This, over there, and that
Presumes that oneness can be seen
In what we're looking at;

That even though all things appear
Disparate and apart,
Points equidistant on a sphere
Point center from the start.

Though not so easy to make out
Behind all there must lie
That reason for what's round about
Us, in us, we see by;

That mysteries abound but for
The fact that there's a will
To find out and discover more
That's comprehensible.

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If We Mua

If We Must Choose Between