Celestial Clouds Expanded Poem by Harley White

[Expanded version of poem 'Celestial Clouds']


Nebulae make for magnificent views,
like one in Archer at Milky Way's heart,
a wispy pastiche lit with vibrant hues
in which ultraviolet rays take part

from newly-born stars that shine on the skies
nearby, in quasi sidereal tides
ever ebbing and flowing, with their rise
forming breakers a stellar surfer rides.

Waves undulating on cosmic lagoon
in this region of Sagittarius
on colossal canvas seem to be strewn
in billowy strokes multifarious.

Still all's an illusion of gas and dust,
fashioned in delicate sculptural casts
over which a great artist might have fussed
with finesse for astral enthusiasts.

It's four to five thousand light-years from us
and stretches one hundred light-years across,
as collapsing hydrogen vapors thus
fabricate infant stars aglow with gloss

along dusty lanes traversing the gas.
Such fanciful scenes defy portrayals
and send astronomic gazers en masse
on cosmic quests for stelliferous grails…

There's no end to wonders beyond our range
of vision that science can scrutinize.
Nonetheless, many marvels just as strange
exist on this planet before our eyes.

Seeking to fathom the heavens is grand
if it stirs a sense of the precious worth
of living beings in seas or on land—
for we must look after what's here on earth!

Some regard erudite scholars as gods
along with academic successes,
but knowledge and wisdom can be at odds
when facts are all a person possesses.

Myriad volumes may cover our shelves
on subjects extending to outer space,
yet we've learned next to nothing of ourselves
for want of clear mirror to see our face.

Minds that are clouded, like tarnished mirrors,
cannot reflect reality truly—
Nichiren told his devoted hearers—
and should be thoroughly polished duly.

Hence what we need is the title and theme
of the utterly uttermost Dharma
which awakens us from our mortal dream
and creates the most fortunate karma.

Let us burn the fire of earthly desire
as fuel for the all-embracing flame
of enlightenment, with phrase we acquire
of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo to declaim.