The Open Secret

All is quiet in the valley of Ilm
Goethe tosses sand across wet ink
Ruby wax sealed without a care,
He leans back in chair, - - and
Drifts out the nearby window
Rotating above, in constant motion
Lunar trots that luminous path
As a fleet of clouds move away

"Ancient Chaldeans charted sky to learn,
The North star takes turns."

He grabs brown coat, places hand
Atop Shakespeare bust, then heads to
The White Swan. Seated at a round table,
Wilhelm Meister manuscript by side,
Schiller joins. And pours a glass of Rhine wine:

"What flows up within, I shall begin, --
Using chain that runs through
Ye dissect the intellect, since time immemorial
Hidden source it has kept. As elusive as
Mnemosyne's daughters, it stays.
How do you unveil its ways?"

"Each is given a shifting crystal ball
At birth. We turn it this way and that,
amused here, puzzled by inscription there.
The crystal itself never changes, just shows its
many sides. Look at it, but put it aside,
and just be, for now."

Lady von Lorenz, hops on Goethe's lap:

"The One that eludes name
Some sages dare proclaim
Built this exploration game"

"Yea as above, so the smallest speck
Look at all the ways it interconnects."

"Tell me, where lies purpose?"

"A long-held desire grabs your attention.
Water seeds; climb a tree!
So like Zacchaeus you may see.
That the threads we weave,
last for eternity."

All was quiet in the valley of Ilm
And so, -- while candle dripped
Goethe dreamed he found the Urpflanze.

Beautiful poem, I enjoyed reading it very much. Great idea to construct it as a conversation between old masters. It gives the poem, together with the old style form of expression, the bouquet of eternity making it drinkable like a good old wine.

Good lookin free, "Art is long, life is short."