VII

Once there was a man.

 

a cold and lonely man, unraveling

 

He was much lonelier than he thought, for he knew he was lonely, but he didn’t see that he was alone. Then a universe offered to help him, showed him the mutating webs and coils of existence.

 

of himself

 

He saw what is and what was, and though he did not see what will be, he knew it was not, at its core, any different, and therefore it was not any worse.

 

He saw the webs rise and fall, coalesce and crumble, ravel and unravel, sing and fall silent.

 

He saw new, crescent, half, gibbous, full, gibbous, half, crescent, new.

 

He saw the infinite totality of being, and the next, and the next, and the next.

 

He saw the stillness in the motion, and he was comforted.

 

He was alone.

He was all.

 

He was not.