deliquescence (iii)

in everything that begins

and

in everything that falls apart

deteriorates

comes to pieces

we're granted

a vision

of endlessness

in the event horizon

that is

flaking layers of paint

are revealed

pale carmine ripples

of age and decay

in the slow return

from form to formlessness

is revealed something

beyond the crumbling surface

much as

my tired eyes

creased by smile wrinkles

reveal something

of

who i was

and who i am

all finite things reveal infinitude:

the mountain with its singular bright shade

like the blue shine on freshly frozen snow,

the after-light upon ice-burdened pines;

odor of basswood on a mountain-slope,

a scent beloved of bees;

silence of water above a sunken tree :

the pure serene of memory in one man, --

a ripple widening from a single stone

winding around the waters of the world.

excerpted from "the far field" theodore rothke

deliquescence