I cannot breathe,
No not because my lungs are drained of air
I lie here suffocating,
With leaves of trees enough and woods to spare
To keep me ventilating.
I just cannot breathe.

I cannot move,
No not because my body broke apart
I lie completely still,
With all these gears and pulleys of the heart
Able to keep me mobile.
I just cannot move.

I cannot see,
No not because my eyes lie lustreless
Balls, aged, smashed or pricked,
With such a planet bent round to impress
Them, blind were derelict.
I just cannot see.

I cannot taste
Nor smell, no not because my nerves lie wrenched
Loose, disconnected cables,
I just cannot pull vapours in, teeth clenched,
Body impermeable,
I can’t smell or taste.

I cannot hear
Nor touch, no not because the air’s light ripples
Fade without reaching shore,
Lying like seaweed in a world of bubbles,
Though myriads of them roar,
Just can’t touch or hear.

I cannot think
What has become of me, no not because
I lie here mindless but
Because the universe’s endless doors
Are opening on what
I just cannot think.

I cannot be
Whether everything lying pulled apart
Is I or I united,
I am what I am not, because without
Being in and of this night,
I just cannot be.

.

8 December 2016

15 February 2017

1 March 2017

This deals with the old problem of the one and the many, or how anyone can be one while being many.