#1311 - always a surprise to look up

1311

4.viii.23

4.217

always a surprise to look up

for godsbother and the field guide to Australian clouds

 

it’s hind legs, bend back, open head

surely the heart will follow?

 

sometimes even just looking across or out

          does the trick

 

but up is really special

(heavenly some say)

 

you’ll see how soft the day can be

though it’s not always so

 

it’s up through the lives of leaves

much visited as they are

 

and who would have thought it was

             we do the turning

 

yes, sometimes it’s only plaster or tin

it’s all in the way you look

 

no matter, though, the cover

there’ll always be some crystal sphere

that is our grave unblinking

 

all our puny reaching has been towards this

 

best of our ancestors we keep up here

 

and maybe a mote

maybe the whole thing dreamt up

 

the spectacle’s all plot

 

see kingdoms quickly won and lost

castles blown away

 

of all that has been written there

which of us could read?

 

icons of courage, one could say fear

 

it’s how you get this stiff neck we’ve got

but it’s worth it

ghost column

still chimneys point our way

 

blink, the sun’s down

the eye goes further

you’ll see steady stars

other worlds just on their way

sometimes a stone falling

 

our sky just one among the countless

 

a clarinet leading now

and here’s the lark ascending

 

however close we come to it

there’s always a show upstairs

 

umpteen messages unread, waiting there

 

a message is coming through right now

 

you’ll be bound to receive it too

if you will just look up