"This is how poetry comes to be"

The Veil and the Vision

Waiting by the water for the fire to fall
I look forward to beginning my journey

Though I may never go anywhere at all
At something like sunset the journey takes me

Where I might be journeying I never know
Till it happens and maybe not even then

I have to be patient to go and not go
I have to be ready for the moment when
The fire falls and unseen hands spirit away
The veil which customarily wraps my eyes
And which makes a starless moonless night of day
The removal of which makes me realize
How much of the time how little I can see
But it is always darkest just before dawn
While waiting for light when the veil is withdrawn

When revealed before me shines the mystery
I write it down quickly and then it is gone

But it becomes a keepsake of memory
Though the veil is restored the vision lives on

This is how poetry comes to be
At least how this poem came to me

+Steven Curtis Lance



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