COSMIC MONOCHROME

Of the Northwest-Wind, Keewaydin,
To the Islands of the Blessed,
To the Kingdom of Ponemah,
To the Land of the Hereafter!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

To journey up the switch-back grade
Half in moonlight and half in not
The evening star subtended
In crazy serendipity

Is to know a careening of
Our wild and watery planet
‘Midst the gyrations of the skies
In reversals of its dark night.

Now, Caught in those tight twists and turns
Flashing splashes of moonlight that
Recall all Life’s syncopations
Of good and evil, love and hate:

A vivid chiaroscuro
Of vast dichotomous reality
Laid bare at night or in full light
Ever thus and always will be.