Quatrain 74
Quatrain 74 of 75
“I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life to spell:
And after many days my Soul return'd,
And said, "Behold, Myself am Heav'n and Hell."”
Reflection · Spring
I sent my soul through the invisible — the expedition of the mystic, the philosopher, the astronomer, anyone who has sent their consciousness as far as it can go into the unknown, looking for news of what lies beyond. And the soul returned. After many days. And said: Behold, myself am Heav'n and Hell. In spring this verse is an equinox verse — the balance of day and night, the understanding that the great opposites of religious imagination are not places to be rewarded or punished in but conditions within the self. Myself am Heav'n and Hell. Both. Now. Always.
The spring morning can be heaven or hell depending on the state of the self that inhabits it.