In Sight—The Best Light

In Sight—The Best Light

 

 

Not uncommon for me to walk Brattle Street,

down Tory Row, avoiding, habitually,

stumbling on the cracked blue stone

which ancient roots in defiance lift

to peril those who pass Longfellow’s House

unaware of where they tread.

Some mornings

I make a trip into the Square

to post a letter – the best time

to avoid a line: the academics all

sleep in past ten.

Some afternoons

I go to buy a book or meet a friend.

I walk back home, toward the west.

The sun is often in my eyes.

I watch my feet, avoid a fall.

For twenty years,

a thousand times or so, I’ve walked this way,

but yesterday, heading east, late in the day,

I paused – the light, not in my eyes,

is brilliant, angled low,

I sense her rays have transfixed time,

The houses, trees, historic walls

in finest hues and contrasts shown,

each crafted nook and sophphic.

Seeing thus, illumined as in a book,

a deeper purpose inscribed here,

I ponder what may be found

within those learned rooms and halls,

or, from where I stand, if only you or I

from the habit of our day

and from sunset look the other way,

will find illumed in that slanting light

a spectral richness of insight.

 

Steve Hluchan

Steve@Hluchan.com

Cambridge, MA    617 953-9046