What I would see
mid all the stress and tension of these days
what I would see beyond my pain and, seeing, praise
is how life works its way upon
our thick, opaque obduracy
presses down and pulls us out
to tissue-thin transparency:
yes, praise.
I would not choose to stretch this way.
Unwillingly I find myself drawn membrane-thin
so others can see through and in.
I would prefer to hold my dark
to guard my secrets safe behind
a studied public face -
but stretched reveal a larger life
admit a light beyond my own
and letting through these stronger, brighter rays
I praise.
