Or Is There Not?

Or Is There Not? 

Is there an essence in a living thing
That can't be measured with a rule or scale
Or other instrument, but still exists,
With a nature that is kin, perhaps, to mind—
That senses and perceives what's all around
And feels the pleasure-pain that's absent in
The things that do not live and cannot feel?

Or is there not?  So then the water, air
And sculpted stone and wood, in essence, are
The same as you or me or the leaping frog—
And the light that issues from a fiery star
May carry songs or screams from deep within,
To which the leaf that reaches sunwards harks
As do the planets and the galaxies.

So is perhaps this essence everywhere
And everywhen, but clearly manifest
In things that live—that are as portals to
That essence that we sense is ours too
On looking in the eye of any beast
Or when we see the tiny leaves unfurl
Of an infant plant that water woke from sleep?

And is this essence "god", or "devil" too,
Or simply that which watches all unfold,
As is the dreamer in a passing dream
Who wakes to that in which we all are caught—
This dream that's shared of births and lives and deaths,
Of joy and sorrow, predator and prey—
Of those who rule and those who must obey?

2018 September 30, Sun (stanzas 1-2)
and October 2, Tue (stanzas 3-4)
Brooklyn, New York
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Related:  https://thedailypoet.blogspot.com/2018/10/attar-alap.html