Horizon lost.


Again he lay down to sleep
as he had done countless times before.
In his minds’ eye he imaged himself -
looking down into the shrouds of mists -
Down into society itself.
The people together -
A stagnant pool of water.
Flat, featureless. No current, no flow.
Occasionally a ripple, quick to fade -
Quick to die.

He saw himself stepping from the pool.
A silent thought: ‘I am no longer
A part of their society.’
All was dark, he stumbled blindly around
The dead pool, just as blindly as if
He had never left.

In his minds’ eye he saw a void.
There was nothing - no light, no dark.
Pax regnare.
Then, from the nothing grew a light
And instantly the nothing was dark blackness.
The light edged outwards, to be
Forever surrounded by the dark.
The nothing faded.

Again he saw the pool, again a ripple, another.
Another still.
The pool- still and whole- became
Separated, disjointed. All meaning was lost.
Where the gentle pool had lain stagnant, Now it
writhed and lived, separate - each pool quick to fade.
Each quick to die.
The pool faded.

The image of the earth, hanging in still space.
No! It was not still! There was a hum of movement!
He could discern the cycle - a vestige of life emerging.
Trees, weather - the Earth itself.
Then he understood: The planet itself was alive!

Then there were people - a flaw in the motion.
The cycle did not stop, it simply move differently.
The waters still flowed, the mountains still climbed.
And mans ultimate conquest continued.
He understood: Wheresoever there is still life,
Be it of the Earth or apon it,
The cycles will continue - Must continue.

Amongst some people - each a stereotype of another -
He saw a human being - quiet, unobtrusive 
To the movements around him.
The being stood waiting peacefully. There were others too.
They, like the first, stood alone in the group.
Ever so gradually, they were lost amongst the others.

‘Why? Why do they not step from their chains,
Even as I have done? Why do they
Not open their locks and walk free of their bindings.’
He lunged forward, his intention to reach the Human Beings.
He could not. They were gone, lost to the people.

In his minds’ eye, he searched around himself,
Stumbling to see the obvious.
He lurched about, failing to see. He tripped,
A fall over one already lost to where he now stood.
He could discern that he was a part of the stagnating pool.
Separate - yet still a part of the people’s existence.
He was searching for the exit that was not there.
There was no escape... no escape... no escape...

He slept.