The Cloud of Unknowing

The wonder of a sleeping park, enveloped in the mist

Where space and time and matter amorphously exist

The air has slowed to a halt and rests without a stir

The trees have ceased their shimmying and quietly concur

Disembodied voices, the barking of a dog

Softened by the dampened air, a muffler of fog

Scatterings of waterfowl upon the static lake

Blend into the vista, increasingly opaque

In this softly grounded cloud, little can be known

A perfect day for wandering, your worries to disown

To leave them unattended as you slip away

To blissful anonymity amid the milky grey

Trust the paths and inclines, reminding you of place

Taste a more immediate relationship to space

Hear your feet beneath you, this moment keenly felt

Soft anticipations as time begins to melt

Oak and Rhododendron, sycamore and rose

Looming on the fringes in vaporous repose

Receding into nothing – a powder cloud of peace

Dissolving all insistence, a cognitive release

Figures on the footpath, emerging from the sky

Coming into focus and gently passing by

Cushioned from perspective, discovering the way

You lose yourself discreetly and find yourself again

Copyright Tom George 2024

The title is a reference to a celebrated work of Christian mysticism, dating from the 14th century. The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymous work, and has parallels with other spiritual traditions including Buddhism.

I haven’t read it yet but I will!