The Big Picture
Posted: January 23rd, 2006, 4:54 am
Keep your eye on the big picture.
Watch its hair-trigger lens.
I can't fix a wide angle from space junk,
Nor killer screws loose from Sputnik,
Nor pillow-wisp hurricanes, too quiet,
Nor Apollo's porch on the moon,
Thumb-blue lifeboat rising.
Out too far.
Nor across oceans of salt-air sleep,
Nor across deserts of indifference,
Nor from the ancient city's edge,
Concussions of the righteous,
Muffled, ageless bombs....
Still out too far.
Nor from next-door in utter terror,
Neighbors crushed under rubble,
Nor from sacred canons of war,
Staked by a mother's anguish,
Because now we're too close.
Refocus the lens, recede
Back into the big picture.
Watch its hair-trigger lens.
I can't fix a wide angle from space junk,
Nor killer screws loose from Sputnik,
Nor pillow-wisp hurricanes, too quiet,
Nor Apollo's porch on the moon,
Thumb-blue lifeboat rising.
Out too far.
Nor across oceans of salt-air sleep,
Nor across deserts of indifference,
Nor from the ancient city's edge,
Concussions of the righteous,
Muffled, ageless bombs....
Still out too far.
Nor from next-door in utter terror,
Neighbors crushed under rubble,
Nor from sacred canons of war,
Staked by a mother's anguish,
Because now we're too close.
Refocus the lens, recede
Back into the big picture.