History and Reality

 
History and Reality
 
A watchful trek through history reveals
A landscape that is dual in its forms—
With false facades—resembling those in sets
In Hollywood—and then the fields of truth
That stretch through time and space, but out of view
For all except the ones who persevere
And find their ways, beyond the obstacles,
To glimpse, however partly, this terrain.
 
And so it is with much that we perceive
As real, based on trust in what we’re sold.
It takes some effort—and a stillness deep—
To start to see, in part, realities
Beyond the here and now and all that we
Have gathered through our lives—by each alone—
While blessed or cursed with sight of heart and mind,
And all our senses, sharp in clarity.
 
The “knowledge” that’s beyond is second-hand
At best—and often very far from that.
We cross a border—and the headlines change
For those events that happened yesterday.
How different are then the histories
We're taught from those of near and distant lands?
We can't go back in time—or even be
In more than one place at a given time.
 
2024 June 26th, Wed.
Berkeley, California