The Response I Hear To All Of This Poem by Gary Witt

The answer is yes, but perhaps not yet,
And then more than you can imagine now;
For prohibitions melt, restrictions vanish,
The word “no” dissolves between the spans
Of this unbounded space, this circular time,
These infinite, linear possibilities.
The questions may change but the answer,
Affirmative, time-bound, multiplied, and
Resolute, the answer stays the same.
The word “no” dissolves in this place,
This era, this plane, this vale;
It is not if, but when, how much, how far.
Will there be bloodshed, joy, deceit, or yearning?
Are you exulted, demeaned, betrayed, condemned?
Shall we be lifted up, redeemed, and climb ever higher,
Or shall we spiral downward toward dark silent rage?
Is there honor left, do people love?
And what of contempt and godless confusion?
The answer is Yes:
Yes to fear, yes to triumph;
Affirmative, time-bound, and multiplied,
The resolute Yes to exuberance, hope and defeat.

But think harder, think of all the questions,
All important, and increasingly so,
Though their importance diminishes
In the asking, always in geometric progression,
First by half, then half again, then yet again.
Do not stop here, the journey still goes on.
The word “no” dissolves:
The answer is yes, to all your doubts,
Your wisest fears, your long-suffering,
Thinly sliced hope, and your gallant certainty.
The response is loud, rude and whispering,
Dark, withdrawn, unseen and glaring,
Infinite plus one, or squared, or cubed;
Do not stop here, the journey still goes on,
Until the meaning of yes dissolves,
Stretched to the infinite, compressed to the miniscule:
The answer is yes, but wait; not yet, not yet,
And then more, more than you can imagine.