NaPM April 24, 2017

[Todd]

Hidden in Light

In light inaccessible hid from our eyes

          - Walter Chalmers Smith (d. 1908)

We cannot know what passes
within a beam of light
or, indeed, aught about it
‘til its photons impact and affect
some matter we perceive -
dust motes, stage curtains,
cells of retinas.

In its way light is
imperceptible, inaccessible
as time: we cannot sense its passage
without instruments, materials
light and time attrit
by rust, uncurling springs
body tanned, nerves triggered...
inner light, like time
an independent variable.

At light’s insurmountable velocity
from its point of view
nothing changes, no time passes.
So we believe...
does this seem likely?
All that tensed, furious
leonine illumination
frozen as if dead because
it’s hidden from our eyes?

I love your first two lines, and I'm a fan of the Hymn. I've always liked the ones that emphasize light (i.e., Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, etc)