CANTO 16 What there was

 

What there was, such a falling off: "Why did you

break, it was there, you could have gone far, far

towards being here, why, why?"

"Because I fear, I draw back, I have needs, I lust,

this is a complex world, there are realities to deal with,

so much on my mind—"

"You could not finish the last canto. Your reader

won’t know until now that you failed, that what is there

has not yet been written."

"I don’t know what to do. Tomorrow I’ll pick it up,

I’ll get up early, I’ll meditate real hard, I’ll find it."

"You won’t have time."

"That’s not known, but I guess, likely."

"What will you do now?"

"Work on the phrases."

"What do you mean?"

"Astronomy. Science. The phrases to be integrated."

"Into what?"

"Into all the other phrases."

"Begin."

"Shock waves from solar flares collide with the earth’s magnetosphere."

"I see. More."

"The frequency of alpha brain waves parallels the frequency

at which the length of a radio wave equals the circumference of the earth."

"And the significance of this?"

"Unknown, therefore of immense interest."

"I agree. And?"

"It can’t be denied. I have to take it into account."

"How?"

"I don’t know. And each time the planetary magnetic field

changes, so does that of the top layer of ocean sediment."

"So?"

"The cavity between earth and ionosphere

acts as a vast natural resonator.

You who meditate in caves

and you at the submarine station

know low-frequency radio waves

circle me many times,

set off many chimes,

with minimum attenuation.

One hears OM and the other ELF.

Which will destroy the self?

When a star huge in wisdom collapses

beyond the event horizon,

it thrills empathic synapses

that blur the scope of Urizen.

When a given sphere squeezes

to an infinitely small point

(a singularity or a Jesus?),

systems go out of joint.

Time and space cease to exist.

In the largest the smallest persist."

"No comment."

"Of course not."

Who are you? No reply. Not even a shade.

Not an emanation. One of me. Not much can be accomplished

in such a long time. And here I am,

swinging around the sun, my magnetic fields

arcing out like monstrous ears

or the wings of a glowing moth.