Change Poem by Michael Maxwell Steer

Into the echoing darkness I make my prayer,
knowing that dark itself is unanswerable.
All learned behaviour here's unserviceable:
nakedness alone reveals what's there.

The darkness that surrounds us is the fear
of ultimate non-existence: thus like child
with candle challenging the west wind wild
we can be nothing else than what appears.

Each black sun a time of revelation
wherein we touch primordial power: the night
where, after wrestling with angels, light
brings permanent scarring bound up with transformation.

It's not enough to glimpse this mighty force,
we have to clasp its alienation
and wrestle with the pain of penetration
until we integrate the altered discourse.

Only afterwards we see the gift:
the pain arising from tectonic pressure
as old perspectives die to yield a fresher
deeper, larger, more abundant heart shift.


12/03/2009