Finding Permanence in Transience

by John Herlihy

We step every morning into the pearly dawn,

That dwells within the mind as a timid fawn.

A fragmentary moment within an air of transience,

Greeting us every morning with an air of permanence.

The ordinances of nature all display a sense of regularity,

The sun shines on orbiting earth as a matter of practicality.

Its beauty contains a mystery in those very rays of light,

Permanence amid transience as the day slays the night.

We stand in silhouette against burnished, shimmering sky,

As twilight bids us a melancholy farewell with its single cry.

Half the globe in pitch darkness, the earth lost in slumber,

While all the inhabitants rest secure in this nocturnal wonder.

We know nothing stays the same amid perpetual change,

Perpetual being the key word our transience to arrange.

The bud blushes as rose to enjoy its brief, limited history,

Its perfume, beauty, perfection freely share their intimacy.

The dragon of despair slays the evanescent specter of hope,

From a deep well of despair we climb up on the divine rope.

What more permanent than the rays of hope’s bright sun,

What could be more lasting than the relief slowly to be won.

We accept the idea of change because some things last forever,

Change but worldly elements that will take their leave never.

The river will always flow onward and never stays the same,

Carving pathways thru grand canyons, all in His glorious name.

Through a telescope, far distant objects now appear up close,

Losing one’s breath then finding it in this near scene grandiose.

As if capturing an eyeful of permanence in that glimmering star,

As if partaking in a wisdom that is so freely offered from afar.

An eye sees far distance while a solitary finger touches the heart,

A moment of permanence that will never take leave and depart.

The sun rays flood the night sky with dawn’s infant, dewy light,

All the while its smiling face lies below the horizon out of sight.

And so these hints of permanence take their leave and fade away,

The earth continues to turn with a permanence no poem can sway.

The universe wrapped up as a gift in this cocoon of sweet mystery,

All in salutation to the beauty and mystery of the Divine Reality.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Sunday 13 July 2025