Every so often, I awaken and find
The world both vivid and lit, each element
–far as I can tell—lit from within. And yes,
like you, I may have assumed this radiance
to be a trick of morning sun upon the sea,
or the fortunate effect of ambient or
of manufactured light, of dumb or less
dumb luck….
I may have been jogging, or
yammering on before a yawning class,
writing something or other on the blackboard.
I may have appeared more or less awake
right along, but suddenly, with little warning, I become
for the moment more fully awake, and I see
that there—along the path, among the bracken
or the pine, or just there, only now opening
within each forlorn face before me—a glistening,
a quality, a presence of light so profound
I can’t but close my eyes to see.
Excerpt from the poem Somnambulant, by Scott Cairns, from Idiot Psalms: New Poems (Paraclete Press, 2014)