Six Encounters With Remarkable Creatures Poem by Daniel Brick

'Do not be anxious about fulfillment, '
the unicorn's liquid eyes speak as eloquently
as his voice, even as he oscillates before me
between being and non-being. 'I have waited
thousands of years in people's imaginations
to achieve this much reality.' His head bowed,
he softly paws the ground.

A blue jay, wings outspread, deftly descends
to a tree branch, and folds his wings tightly
against his body. 'You see how complicated
flying is? We must keep our thoughts light
and spacious. Heaviness in the mind botches
our flight. Ease your thoughts, Daniel.
Carry less weight within.' He fans his feathers
in a display of color and grace.

The centaur's gruff voice is a model
of gravitas. 'You were once a teacher,
we share the same profession. So you know
the essentials, I won't repeat them.
Instead look at me! Yes, you should wait
wait patiently for all your component parts
to be collected into one being. Then don't
slight any of them. I am always both horse
and man, I am always both proud and humble.
I taught young Achilles to live in perpetual
wonder. Ah, that was before he became
Lord Achilles and was summoned to Glory.
But as student and teacher, we were beautiful together! '

A darker figure approaches across a barren
plain, suffused in a cone of yellow light,
as if he were swathed in a radiant gown
or encased in armor. 'Daniel, you can stop
reading my epic again and again.' It is
GILGAMESH, aged but still vibrant, his eyes
burning with passion. 'My epic is resident
in your soul. Go forth, if you will, and
choose to follow Siduri's charming path
of happiness, or cross the wide world ocean
and demand of the gods our share of Immortality.'

An ant crawls past me, a single ant. What made me
look down just before my next step would have
crushed him? Is that minuscule creature
protected by a divine providence, of which I am
ignorant? Look, he is joined by others, hundreds
of them circle around him in concentric circles.
I thought I was ignoring them, such insignificant
creatures, but, no, it is they who are ignoring me!
What lesson should I draw from this encounter?
Why does a part of me want to erase it from my memory?

A puppeteer rushes past me, with a bag of puppets
slung over his shoulder. He is smiling at some
unshared thought within his mind. 'Hey, puppeteer, '
I shout, 'show me your secret of happiness, quickly
as you race ahead of the wind.' He stops and looks
at my figure intently. 'Hmm, you ask a stupid
question, so you must be a stupid man. Is it so? '
Suddenly, I hear laughter, much laughter,
from many creatures. It is the laughter of the puppets
in his sack. 'HA! HA! ' he exclaims, and the air is silent,
as he rushes off.

Who among you can tell me what all of this means?
Or how I am supposed to respond?
Or should I just conclude,
everything I have witnessed is a mask of God?