Three poems by Will Girling on the theme of observation and exploring the power of the mundane to contain a profound idea.
Realisation
In this room is an eternity of time.
Every sound an echo;
All touch an ambivalent memory.
The tongue compares to an original;
What the eye sees is a reconstruction of form.
Can you smell every element combining?
Walking through these opened doors is a mind,
Which has experienced all things before.
Smoking Outside
Nature reaches out to me
And a dozen pairs of shiny eyes
Blissfully acknowledge the figure
Living among them.
They disappear when I blink,
But I hear them still
Through the playful dancing
Of verdant children.
The Aerial Ballet
The dancers assembled in front of me,
Moving effortlessly to the rhythm of the wind
And a song no one else could hear.
I watched them waltz, only to later disappear
Into the void from which they came.
Clapping maracas seemed to disperse them;
I knew that soon I’d be departing too.
Before leaving, two stragglers approached me,
Encouraging me to join the twilight of revelry.
I let them caress and comfort me,
But I would not be swayed from my flight.
They wordlessly left me in peace to contemplate their joy
And, as the moon was escorted from the sky,
Birdsong filled the cold morning air.
I saw the couple in the distance maintaining their aerial ballet;
Why they were dancing and for whom,
To this day, I cannot imagine.