You know you are in the universe of the egg
When the air wobbles like the jelly
Of a mass of frog eggs
That you learned how to hold
In the bowl of your two little boy hands
To bring them closer to your eyes.
And you know you are in
The universe of your latest rebirth
When the air begins to brighten on cue
Like the water in the pond
Of your clarifying mind
(Because there is a star rising steadily).
And you know just for an instant
That the world
Would never let you destroy it!
So why not be hopeful
And welcome another day?
Why not trust that this time it will be different.
It's the wobble of the jelly of my momentary clarity
That gives me pause for joy.
You see, my life was never
Not about renewal! You know what I mean.
All those birthdays and nature
Unfurling its promise
Like sped up photography . . .
You had to be watching
Or you missed your own unfurling,
Falling for the old illusion
Of the expanding universe
And the passing of just another day.
. . . . . . .
Reflection:
The beginning of the second to last stanza reads:
"It's the wobble of the jelly of my momentary clarity
That gives me pause for joy."
The wobble is mentioned in the very beginning as the wobble of the air, and is compared to a mass of frog eggs that you learned how to hold without letting the jelly and some of the eggs ooze through your "little boy" fingers. That is how the universe holds us when we are clear. It holds us gently and does not let any of us slip through its fingers, so we are held like frog eggs in a pond that is being lit up by the rising sun. This is a description of the quantum universe where we are not sure what is energy, what is light and what is matter and what is solid and what is liquid because when you bring consciousness into the equation, reality assumes an animated quality, nothing is static and nothing is disconnected and, not just the life of the poet, but nothing in creation, was ever "not about renewal".
(Article changed on Jan 30, 2022 at 8:50 AM EST)
1
