ONE
Time to be real I An illusion by which we can
Become more real.
A moment unremarked
By the universe,
By nature, the seasons, or stars.
Moment we have marked out
In timelessness.
Human moment.
Making a ritual, a drama, a tear
On eternity. Domesticating
The infinite.
Contemplating quantum questions:
Time, death, new beginnings,
Regeneration, cycles, the unknown.
II Let uncontemplated regions
Of time project themselves
Into your sleeping consciousness,
Inducing terror, or mental liberation.
So death-confrontation
Paralyzes some with despair
And makes others poison
Themselves with emptiness
But releases in a fortunate few
A rare quality of enlightenment,
A sense of the limited time we have
Here on earth to live magnificently
To be as great and happy as we can
To explore our potentials beyond the limits
To lose our fear of death
Having gained greater love
And reverence for life,
Its incommensurable golden brevity.
That’s how it is
With this moment.
Gigantic death
Enormous birth.
Mighty moment
In timelessness.
Copyright © 1999 by Ben Okri. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
