Through a Glass, Darkly

Through a Glass, Darkly
by Gideon Burton
after 1 Corinthians 13:11-12
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

To put away these many childish things,
My childish thoughts, my understanding dark
With odd enigmas, fragmented with wings
Whose dropping feathers trace and hide the mark
Of first creation, brooding still in vast
Abysses, restless and obscured behind
The glass enveloping both present, past,
As much as I can seeking seeking find
To see it face to face as I am known,
No longer shards and splinters but the whole,
The egg, the center core, unseamed unsewn,
Not these, the pebbles loosened in the shoals
        Along this sheltered shore hid from the moon
        Of knowledge promising the morning's soon.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Feel free to copy, imitate, remix, or redistribute this poem as long as you give proper acknowledgment of authorship. Photo: flickr - MichaelPickard