In a land
Of no small magic
Conspires to create
Tableaus of beauty
Inimitable
Awakened human spirit
A grace divine replies
The night is done
New day is come
I breathe in deep
Exhale a grateful sigh
When the All
Which is everything
Becomes the One
Which is nothingness
I seek the moments
When paradox
Becomes awareness
Then am I filled
With the insight of mystery
The light of darkness
Then being becomes non-being
A time before
The Clean Air Act of 1970
The Environmental Protection Agency
Which gave the Act bite
And enforced its many regulations
I am reminded of that time
When I travel to countries
Which ignore the science
Or have no political will
To preserve the Earth
Which sustains us
If I could learn to love myself
Completely
I would no longer want to hate
That kind of inner light is
Impenetrable
Even to hate’s formidable darkness
And where others see
Monotony
Or mundanity
I discover
Exquisite
Subtlety
Not by touch
Nor sight
Nor sound
Not by smell
Like a sphere of presence
A sphere of influence
Because others
Feel me, this way
And I feel them
Like I know them