Anonymous Notes

One Response to “Veiled Spirit”

1. Dj Said: November 12th, 2007 at 8:02 pm

   This poem is about change and how I as an individual and we as a collective are affected by it.

   I presumes that each individual has before now been subject to experiences that cause them to have pre-conceptions. In addition to that people also generally develop an Ego which makes them deny the existence of any scenario that they cannot understand.

   There once was a veil, a mystic shroud, that but for a day I shun,
   Lost in it’s wake was my self, and the lapse of reason begun.

   The poem begins in the first person and calls the pre-conception a veil and a shroud. This is to depict the safety and familiarity that blinds us to anything beyond. We live safe in our own cocoon of limited knowledge. It goes on to say that if at any point we lift this veil of ignorance our existence and moral fabric is thrown into turmoil. The lapse of reason signifies that it’s not only the subject at hand but also our understanding of everything else that needs to adjust and is incomplete when in this state.

   I know not whence I came upon, such a device in my tale
   Yet it’s squander unexpected was felt stronger than a gale

   This delves into the reason for change. Most change may not have sufficient justification. Especially in hindsight a change may seem completely unnecessary considering the associated baggage.

   Like a stranded leaf in a mid summer breeze
   Sapless I floated a while sans ease

   I was easily swayed by any ‘wind’ that I came across. In my state of turmoil I’ll listen to any and every advice from sources however unqualified and act on them whimsically.

   Brought together for reasons unknown
   I did the bidding for a conscience grown

   somewhere in the middle of all this I’d figure out what was the right thing to do in the wake of my ‘moral values’. Why my conscience would spring up at this point is a mystery but I could be convinced to do questionable things in all stages before this one. but here I re-unite with my conscience.

   Of right and wrong I spoke in the know
   But knew not my eye from my brow

   In the middle of all this I’m still shooting from hip with my limited knowledge. My ego prevents me from looking at the complete picture and leads me further into my preconception. At this point I care not what I see or do not.

   Oh what a folly! Inane I must confess
   For the path is the goal for all to digress

   At some point reality catches up with me and I see that everything I have done does not have the same meaning as when I did it. The second line in this verse summarises everything above. It says that I started out looking for a goal, something I was shooting for, somewhere down the path the goal became less important and the journey towards it had more meaning to it. But in the end neither the goal nor the journey followed the path I chose for them. I have digressed from my beliefs and morals in all aspects of my change.

   Of little known things we allege to be mindful
   In a garden of hollies proclaim cherries beautiful

   I realize now that I have seen hollies and thought they were cherries. Unknowingly I have acheived something other than what I set out for

   The beginning is not that apart from the place begun
   Not Me not the veil It’s the pretence that was shun.

   Since reality is nowhere near what I started out for I cannot really call this an end. It is another beginning and it’s not really different from where I started. It’s not reality that has changed the most. Or my pre-conceptions. But hopefully it was my ego that was altered enough for my to deal with the next change in a more condusive fashion.

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