Pilgrim’s Progress

Why not state the obvious for a change
           that we are all solar powered
for example
           or that we are all astronauts
launched into orbit at the hour of our birth
           that there is no such thing as outer space
that even the inner space of consciousness
           is hurtling through the solar system
at an unthinkable speed ?

Bride and groom honeymooning
           on the beach
starry eyed as they gaze up
           at their ancestors embroidered
into the night’s rich tapestry
           and thankful for a marriage
literally made in the heavens

Who taught the galaxies to sing
           who taught the stars to cry out at birth
or to die with a whimper
           who put poetry into the mouths of babes
and beauty into the eye of the beholder ?

Cryptic messages wherever we look
           the restaurant in the Miami Airways motel
shortly after Hurricane Andrew
           ‘Food to go’
as we are all here to go
           consumed on the hoof
pilgrims bound for an unknown shrine
           a pause in our journey to tell tales
to sing songs
           to while away the hours
until we reach our final destination

Thirteen ways of observing
           four and twenty blackbirds
baked in a pie
           wasn’t that a dainty dish !

John Lyons