Waking

Is it only dullness,

   the courage the eye

requires to watch itself,

   white circling hue

circling black?  Perhaps

   a life of seeing

greens infinitely shaded

   teaches us to take

the shock of the red

   without equanimity

or as a joke.  Morning

   headache, the renewed

blur of sense, release

   of energy, all that

awakening can make

   of itself, explains,

“You’ve come this far.”

   To take responsibility

for the rainbow beneath

   the water glass, or

the dogs we’ve run with

   all night long, we

must make a choice:

   watch the light blister,

or close our eyes tight.