Inner Turmoil

"On this tiny raft I shall cross the river of life.
When twilight descends,
I shall discard and heed it no more.
Let it drift away.

Then what shadows, what lights!
I am a pilgrim of the Unknown,
That is my Joy. It raises and resolves
All my conflicts.

No sooner has the Known bound me fast in her net,
Than appears the Unknown
And it bewilders me!
The Unknown is my helmsman, My deliverance!

With him is my covenant. His love is terrible,
With his terror he breaks my fear,
He heeds not the caution of the old.
Breaking the shell, He frees the pearl.


Perhaps you brood and ask if the past returns,
And the raft pulls alongside the old pier.
No, it will not. You are afraid of what lies ahead,
Are you so poor.That only the past is you?

O poet! the hour has struck; End thy banquet.
The waves flow in the flood-tide.
He has not yet shown his face, Therefore my heart throbs.

In what form shall the Unknown come to me?
In what new colors, at the shore of what sea?"

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