Ad Astra

“They do not understand how, while being at variance, it is in agreement with itself. There is a back-turning connection, like that of a bow or lyre” (Heraclitus, frag. 51; translated by T.M. Robinson).

How little I have truly understood

Striving to create what is beautiful

The better to show what is true or good

My mistakes, though bitter, have been fruitful

Now, I understand that tuning my harp

Is a matter of preparing myself

We can flee from tension, finding it sharp

The strain, though exhausting, reveals itself

As the source of all music, not mere sound

Between opposites, where stillness resides

There is a mystery shining, profound

In its opposite, each being abides

When it is drawn taut, each string aches to sing

From a tense silence springs each, living thing