Ovid’s Telescope

Some find it in the teachings of Jesus or Buddha or Muhammad. 
Some find it in the writings of Lao Tzu, Confucius, or Marcus Aurelius. 
Others look for it in the hills of the Dolomites, the woods of Massachusetts, 
Or the calm waters of the Philippine Sea.   

You may find it in the cradle of a leaf, 
The wrinkles in the palm of your hand, or by studying the instincts of a starling. 
The natural world holds more of it than any sentence or song ever could. 
Even children and the elderly know more about it than the adults that govern them. 
 
As for me, I find more wisdom in the timelessness of poetry than anything else, 
Where words give such meaning to Growth, Life, and Nature- 
Those intangible elements that embody our needs and desires- 
That mind, body, and soul become unified, as one's spirit does with rest of the world. 
 
Words, words, thy painter of worlds, of dreams that should have been, 
Rising into the air like rainbows of promise leading to nowhere. 
Where are they, those forgotten Gods of lore, those emblems of faith 
Who stretched across the Aspect of the Placidus, in trine with the divine 
Ephemeri at Midheaven, only to retreat through the lambencies of Ophiuchus, 
Where iridescent nebulae conceal them behind curtains of dust and discovery? 
 
Behold, a polycosmic chessboard built from the coordinates of an astrolabe, 
Whose polished pieces were chiseled by the mythological Titans of Arcana. 
Pawns, bishops, and yes, even the mighty King can only be moved 
By their invisible hands.  We scurry about them below, we insignificant germs 
Infected by Folly, some oblivious to the game that binds them, 

Others at the mercy of its movement.  If you look through the lens long enough 

You can see the motion of the spheres, the hollow cracks in the cubes between galaxies; 
Those pliable spaces where the rules bend and everything is mistakenly thought 
To drift aimlessly through space, as if it had all been strewn across that messy board, 
Corrupted by the impunity of chance, speckled with luminous bits of the pieces we         
    lost.