Another World

author’s note:

Recently, someone asked me how I find contentment...

Not something I usually think about...but I do know that I can find it by discovering beauty in the commonplace.


ANOTHER WORLD

Sometimes I sense the presence
of another world

lurking like a monolith
--like a dark castle gate--
somewhere over my left shoulder

but when I turn to witness
I find only a blank space

nonetheless,
I can feel the absence
and so, that world
still seems real to me:

I'm tantalized--
for years I've searched
for the pass key:

so much work and yet
I remain frustrated...

except in odd quiet moments
that come to me suddenly--

in that stillness, this mundane world
is seen again, felt again, heard again

known again
but known differently--
known as strange:

even the stones seem to brim with life

or especially the stones

even old familiar doors
hold mystery

or especially those doors.

At such times,
whatever object I experience
becomes a door slowly opening:

I discover secrets everywhere.

After such times, I wonder:
did I step through the mirror?--
did I pass through the gate?

© 2015, Michael R. Patton
dream steps: the blog