Celebrate April
Poetry is my least favorite of the literary genres. I find it difficult to understand.
But if I were to choose a poet and his works, hands down, it would be William Blake: poet, engraver, artist, and visionary; and the quatrain To See A World In A Grain Of Sand.
One of his most famous and oft-repeated quotations, it opens his Auguries of Innocence, written in 1803 though only published in 1863, decades after his death.
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
I love the juxtaposition of vast things with minuscule objects.
A world in a grain of sand?
Genius.
How about seeing heaven
in a wild flower?
It is hard for our imperfectly evolved brains to conceptualize the vastness of things. Yet, Blake affirms that we only need the palm of our hand to hold infinity.
Complex concepts become understandable
when viewed through the lens, if you will, of the very small.
As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm.
As is the atom, so is the universe.
As is the human mind, so is the cosmic mind. – Deepak Chopra
P.S. If comprehension of Blake’s mystical idea fails, try this.
To discern an astral shape in an elastic band
And create a star in the palm of Lolo's hand
Catch a glimpse of joy in young Hapa Grandkids' gaze
Fascination in a moment, envisaged.
Hawaii, February 2022
