I Can See Past It All. Poem by Mariam Taufeeq

I can see the light
That shines past the skylight,
A million miles away.
I can see the globe of the moon and the stars,
As the planets creak and sway.


I can see the unearthed shimmering fortunes
Of golden sand in the dusk.
I can see the flickers of dandelion rivers,
Broken by the sun's hard husk.


I can see the winds
Sparring with the clouds,
In a haze of mist and rain.
I can see the detached frozen cubes,
That the sky's love could not retain.


Past the wonders of the moon,
And the bleeding of the sun,
Lies another world
Transfixed by this one.
It hasn't moved away for the last few billion years
It's formed a canvassed dome
To our rainbow-streaked home
And filled it with crystallized tears.


I can see the blanket of waves and spray,
Of the patchwork quilt that's sewn up there.
A star learns to disappear every day,
And another one builds a trapeze to here.


You don't need to close your eyes
To travel: there's a world above you.
Crystal clear, no bronzed-brown lies,
The sky is calling and it'll know you
In the moment it takes a heart to realize
That there's a singeing call to the world's metallic cries.


You can see the crackles of the dew,
The songs of long-lost ends,
They shimmer violet in the midnight-blue,
And tell you to bring your friends.


You can see the hark of the sunset,
A daze of light as it combusts.
You can see your silver linings,
That dive away into the gusts.


Past the heartache of the pavements,
And the dreary candles of the Main,
Lies another world,
Captured by the world's complain;
It's hasn't moved away for the last few billion years,
It's painted clear and free,
No grime-shackled reality,
And coloured with all our dears.