THE FACE

by Jack Reeves

Diaphanous clouds across the mature Moon race,
   Gossamer ghosts chased
As by invisible cosmic spirits
   Through this bewitching black void.

A silhouetted pine thrusts
   Upwards it noble boughs to

Heaven's inky vault;
   And Orion rings its nettle crown

In reciprocating splendor.

Jasmine and pine and
   The assonant scents of summer hover

In this moon-bathed wood--
   Shadowy images lit, singularly frozen in
Muted luster.

In this still-life night
   I muse of my being and all being,

And why and how and when
   It all did begin,
And whither its end.

And in this dim sanctuary I believe
   I can see...
In this epiphany...
   The face of the One Great Face
Behind the many masks.