Sphere

Sphere
Glenn Wallis

Come, and consider carefully what I say,
Whether my words’ wide witness anywhere fails
A single thing that reveals this simple all.
Behold the sun, its warmth, its light, diffused in your eye.
See the stars, forever steeped in liquid
Heat and streaming radiance.
On your skin, feel the rain, obscure and cold and dark.
And smell the heady soil that stains your feet.
Hungry fledglings shrieking in an oak—listen!
And note how from earth streams forth the green and firm.
And all, through fury, are split to unlike shapes.
And each, through love, draws near and yearns
One for the other.
For from the all has blossomed
All that was or is or ever will be—
Trees, beasts, the dreams of men, the ache of women,
Fears of oblivion steeping in the deep,
Hope of paradise.
For this is all,
All in all—
Coursing like Lethe through time, yet
Each, through the other,
Brings forth a new face.
All is by varied merging and enduring change.

This poem was inspired by Empedocles’s philosophical work The Sphere, number 21, based on the translation from the Greek by W. E. Leonard. I kept a few of the original lines. I have to admit, I think there is a place for large statement, perhaps even bombast, in poetry. It gives a shot to body, mind, and emotions. It inspires dream, vision, or action. Nietzsche as poet saw that, too.

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