Don’t Forget the Strangeness...

Don’t let the world become familiar
don’t forget the sheer strangeness of being alive.

Don’t forget the sheer strangeness of being here
on the surface of this spinning globe
standing in its soft dark soil
immersed in atmospheric gases, breathing in
to nourish our blood with oxygen
the blue-tinted sky above, full of foaming crystal masses
that fades into black and opens up
to the vast empty fullness of the universe
then turns to face a burning golden ball again
that caresses us with heat and light.

Don’t forget the sheer strangeness of being this body
that breathes and blinks and heals and grows
a miracle of precision and complexity
a city of ceaseless traffic and industry
where a million microscopic processes intertwine
and millions of tiny organisms labour
for the greater good of you
just to keep you conscious and alive.

Don’t forget the strangeness of seeming to be a ghostly self
that lives inside your body, has attached itself to your form
and seems to stare out from your eyes
that can spin webs of logic, create alternate abstract worlds
and turn into itself and open up
into endless spacious consciousness
that seems to stretch beyond any boundary.

Don’t forget the strangeness of this world of form
the pulsing heart of matter, shimmering waves of light
endless expressions from the same rich source
endless variations of an elemental theme
different frequencies of the same essential sound
this roaring teeming swell of life
the brightness and shining nakedness of now
and awe-inspiring is-ness of the nameless real.

A strangeness even stranger
because it’s not hostile or indifferent
but right and reassuring, even warm and welcoming
like a chaos that was always planned
a riddle that makes perfect sense
a cacophony of meaning, full of hidden harmony
glorious harmonious strangeness.


http://www.stevenmtaylor.com/poem-blog/dont-forget-strangeness/