How tenuous, this sense of self

How fleeting, between flickers and mirrors

Shades of light from dark

In flight, in fickle introspect and circumstance

Stepping clear of chains I find myself

When unshackled from sorrow’s safe harbour

All at once, cast alarmingly

Further and deeper into joy than depths can sound

Here, clouds blistered apart

By sun – clean, unmasked

A universal holiness, unspeakable

Indefinable delight

To brush the edge of the truth,

Just the hem

Mind grasps, but cannot hold

And measures again, falling achingly short

Back to counting

Minutes, days,

The non-existent future

Exiled here in the bitter dust of

Seconds, ways

Your scarps and unattainable spires, glittering distant

No! You have all of it,

Own me all-

Static in transience, resilience

Iron-legged, willow-armed

Perpetually whole.