A Small Black Hole - Oct 11 2021

 

A Small Black Hole

Oct 11 2021

But isn't it possible, I say,

being contrary

but also open-minded,

that we go through the world blind?

Like aliens, who know nothing of water,

and see the surface of the pond

with no conception of depth.

Or describing colour

to someone born sightless.

Think of hearing, I explain,

a spectrum of light

with each wavelength its own sensation.

Which isn't helpful at all,

and says nothing of fire engine red

symphonic sun sets

Picasso's Le Reve.

Even my dogs know better,

inhabiting a universe of scent

of which I am oblivious,

stopping, sniffing, pawing the earth

to liberate

its hidden worlds.

So while I can see red,

they have an entire dimension

I ghost through blind.

When the nail file dropped

and could not be found

it felt as if a small black hole

had opened in the firmament,

holus-bolus

swallowing it up.

So why, as my skeptical mind rebelled

and frustration mounted

was it wonder I felt,

a little niggle

of subversive doubt?

That there were still mysteries and layers.

That this place was bigger than I thought.

That no matter how jaded I got

I could still be thrilled

by possibility.

By parallel worlds

that coexist.

By illusions

that turn out to be real.

Or keep deluding myself,

believing only

what I see and hear.

I'm far (far!) more skeptical than open-minded. But recently, a pair of scissors as well as that nail file utterly and instantly vanished, and in places they should have easily been found. They remain missing. And each time, a niggle of doubt flashed into my mind, a tiny grudging admission of mystery and possibility; each time, my annoyance softened by a small child-like thrill of wonder. Which is at least refreshing, for someone like me, who insists on seeing the world through a hard-headed materialist lens.

The illustration is Picasso's Le Reve. I really wanted to use Klimt's Lady in Gold, but rhyme and rhythm over-ruled. However, this works well: not only its brilliant red, but that it is also an equally well-known and admired painting (notwithstanding my having never heard of it before writing this!)