The Same Gaze

Day: one million
Is it not the millionth —
And the first — day
What makes it feel this way —

This pristine
Uncorrupted, untouched
Light — neither light nor dark
Emptiness — neither empty nor full
Ancient — both ancient and new

Is it not this — awareness —
That makes it feel so
That makes it feel complete
And it’s not even that there’s something
That feels complete —
Its just that it is complete
Without any sense
Of being so

And whatever is touched — sensed —
Has the same quality

What a —
World this is

What a —
Gaze

Somehow — somehow — there is this certainty
Utter and simple —
That it is the exact
Same gaze
That gazes through —

Has ever gazed through
Anything
Anyone
Anywhere
At any time —

That has ever been
Ever will be
Ever could be

Losing nothing
Gaining nothing
By gazing —
From this sofa
In this moment
Through these eyes
Out that window

It has fulfilled
Is fulfilling
The destiny
Of countless others

— I may think —

Of those who came
Before me

But it isn’t
The mind wants to be special —
This telescope
Wants to be named
Celebrated
Placed in a museum —

For it happened to be the one
Of many in the long line
Of telescopes that came before
That could see
That star —

But it never did —
It was the eye
Always the same gaze
That sees

That already is —
In that place, at that place
In the distant sky —
And here