MIRRORS AND WINDOWS

MIRRORS AND WINDOWS


“Making a poem is / taking charge of yourself, / your fears, incapacities, tears: / being tough, taking yourself / by the scruff and saying: / say it, you fool, / for how else are you going to know / what a fool you are - / which is, / as anyone knows, / the beginning of wisdom.” Lee Tzu Pheng. The following poem was written after reading the above and also after reading ‘Mirrors and Windows’ by Fadzilah Amin.

In the beginning God
created a room taut with darkness,
formlessness hovered over the face of silence.
We could not see where ceiling accosted walls
nor hear the sound of one hand clapping
nor understand why
the moon stood still
when our minds continued to move.

Then God created light,
the windows of this small room
gathered light like an inept
mountain gathering clouds.
And through the windows
we saw other Edens
where full breasted tulips
opened their pink blouses,
where resided the pure acetylene
virgin, attended by roses, by kisses.
But the alphabets in the Tree
spelt out hymns
that belonged to another tongue.

Then Man created the mirror
so that we could see
the image of God we were created in.
Through parallel mirrors
we marched into transparent infinity
where we discover the infinite
was no quirk of optics
in a far country
but a high fidelity print
in the album of the heart.

Mesmerized, we hung up other mirrors
and caressed them with questions, asking
“What is the most beautiful in the land?”
The answer from shimmering sheets
came in silver flashes
of reflected revelation,
“That which the heart seizes as truth
is most beautiful…………………..”
So now we live in this small room
with seven large mirrors
making our language as we go along.