Labyrinth

By Michelle Mairesse




You are here:

At the midpoint of an infinite series

Or the middle of the muddle.


You may see a mirror:

Reflected there is the outer membrane

Of self, the self’s reflection by the world.

Reject this useless information.

The exit is here:

You may find the egress

(not a mythical beast)

At the center. There you can glimpse

A new dimension.

    Egypt’s animal-headed gods

    Are nothing like Aesop’s foibles.

    Those seeming dogs and snakes and birds   

    Embody words of power:

    Loyalty, wisdom, vision.

    Words, silent and sounded,

    Reverberate against the walls.

    Yet none will guarantee your

    Getting out alive.

On walls of old Egyptian tombs

Fishers and fowlers spread their nets:

Birds mark the upward flight of spirit.

Fish swim in their element

Not knowing what it is.



On labyrinth walls

The sole symbols and signs

You will find

Are carvings, initials:

Kilroy was here, and so was I.