The Bifocal Perspective of Being

We live on more than one plane at a time:
On one plane in the action of our play
And one above this one (up a short climb)
From which we watch (a dimension away)
Ourselves from above (though we are below)
Just far enough away that we can say
"Be careful down there" yet enjoy the show

This observational ability
Is ours whenever we take the long view
To look at ourselves and look honestly
Wonder about why we do what we do
And having seen us then to see us grow

From the vantage point of the higher me
I have seen this cycle turn around so
Many seasons in a pattern so small
That I have to hope it must mean something
(If anything means anything at all)
Whatever it means it is the one thing
I have and also what I share with you

We speak our lines then learn them as we go
From the sublimated to the sublime
Floodlit and firelit blinded by seeing
Up close at a distance high beams and low
Each like a bell which hears its echo chime

The bifocal perspective of being

+Steven Curtis Lance



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