The Priest at World’s-End

 This is his place at last, where all roads led,
Surprised by mindless anger, lost in dreams,
Tied to a whirlwind of his own making,
Caught in a trap with no escaping,
This time, this place,
This circumstance he occupies,
He finds – for all he knows the reasons –
He cannot hold the world together.

He is looking for a forum
To express what has no meaning,
In an endless search for someone
To tell something he’s not sure of.
He is lost without a compass,
On a sea that has no shoreline,
On a day that has no sun.

He’s a madman:  now he knows the Secrets.
He can guess the inestimable;
He can voice the inexpressible;
He can quantify infinity,
But he cannot bear the unendurable.

He is caught – chained to an instant,
By a flash of inner meaning.
He pulls himself together
To leap into another kingdom.

1979