with painfully open eyes the poet

with painfully open eyes the poet
listens for that delicate but colossal sound
rising to become eloquent as silence;

with an uncomfortable still alertness
watches out for an image as revealing
as that darkness which ends distractions

and gathers his courage to step naked
into the mysteries of things only worth
his voice for their impossible pronunciation

for knowing poems may speak of arriving,
all poems are merely on their way;
and the poet stretches to cover the distance.