Star Inside

author's note:

An appropriate poem for a time when a comet draws our eyes to the sky.


STAR INSIDE

The ancients believed
the gods lived above
in a world of ideal form:

our life below
was merely a pale shadow
compared to their gold.

I think I know why
they held that idea:
maybe like me, those folk often felt
shadowy pale

but brightened
whenever they stopped to wonder
at the mystery of the stars
of a world so distant.

At such still moments
I can feel the gold of this life.

A richness I also know
sometimes when I’m quiet
and descend into myself
descend until I experience
a moment of sparkling perfection

which I can not hold.
Nonetheless, when I rise
I’ll still feel the afterglow.

So whenever my life seems
pathetically pale
I reach down again--reach
until I find the star inside.

My plan is:
to raise that star
slowly...slowly...slowly
until finally the feeling
never completely leaves me.

Then, no matter what falls
I won’t forget our basic truth:

within this pale shadow
lives an ideal world
of sacred perfection

and though we often feel poor
we’re always much more
than we appear to be.

With that constant awareness
how could I ever lose my love?

© 2020, Michael R. Patton
Poet, Heal Thyself: poetry ebook