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April 1, 2008
Cloud of Unknowing
The first part of this poem appeared earlier:
Unknowing
And so I move from knowing
to unknowing--not merely ignorance
but undoing the knowing I have
untying the knots and staring underneath
at what cannot be known once it is known.When you choose to unknow
you cannot. It comes upon you
as a gift,the promise of bliss
that unmakes what you have known--
makes holes in what is
through which light might shine.But the gift is two-edged
and what is unknown
breaks the links between things
known. Knowledge leaks out
mystery seeps in.Our broken knowledge
is the gift of humility,
it isn't forgetting--a loss,
and absence. It is a secret
unraveling, a complete undoing.Not passive, not receding
prominent and pointed
as the needle that breaches
the fabric, making holes
that let us know what is real.
Posted by Steven Riddle at April 1, 2008 6:58 AM
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