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Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World
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white world
i can still see them when the mist draws about
the eucalyptus the wattle in flower
but they are not quite there
fog sails across the grass
but the white world is still
2003
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger
The white, the "mist" that "draws about" is the radiant light that shines throughout existence. When that eternal light is perceived directly, it can be a gentle glow or a flood of brilliance. That light can be described as a "mist" because it permeates everything with its whiteness while it obscures the surfaces of things, swallowing all objects into itself. You "can still see them" -- objects, the world -- "but they are / not quite / there" -- they are perceivable but they no longer seem tangible or real in any deep sense. Within that all-embracing light, everything else becomes ghost-like, outlines of seeming that at best you pretend are real...
And, although the "fog sails / across the grass," although that light seems to be flowing outward, radiating and moving, you see that the only reality in this world built of light is complete rest, "the white world / is still."
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Ivan
M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright ©
2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or
publishers.