Unnamed by Mark Barrett

Unnamed

by Mark Barrett

In honor and humility we kneel

(perhaps trembling) before...

something;

something unnamed but which has named us:

Then let this be the awe

of light juxtaposed with darkness,

the shadow-fears dancing gamely

at the periphery of our intuition,

and everything we know to be unknown.

But, imagine if someone were to speak

of what they had seen or heard here,

inside the dimly-cramped amphitheater of human consciousness,

then muttering in hushed and broken tones.

to the one nearest them;

that next person would do the same,

until finally, grandiose truth

is reduced to a child's game.

But then, who among us does not have a story?

And after all, what hasn't been seen or heard

and told a thousand times,

in ten thousand subtle ways?

Perhaps truth is best kept intact

close to the vest,

and held somewhere near the heart.