While a child, still
Relatively unacquainted with
The machinations of the world
& its long sojourns through time

One holds a slight perplexity
Where regards that
Faraway look
Seen in elders' eyes

(Though suspecting it to be
Some kind of spagyric.)

When they speak of those
Of whom they were
Especially fond

Who, as it so happened,
Made their sloping way

Down or up some
Dimensional tube

The intuition of a dull ache,
Sharp vision of an inner place missing.

That look, an exuberant lament
& the beacon of some
mute triumph

It seems an
Interdimensional telescope
To peer past the atmosphere

Or a quantum microscope
For piercing the cell walls
Of space & time.

Either way, from youth's
Cornucopia coiled to spring
Into sunsets & fireflies

Still evergreen in this
Preparatory crouch, it is
Natural to pause & revel at

That faraway look &
What it may signify
When it appears
In elders' eyes.

Writing & images
By @d-pend
3/16/18