COSMIC MIND

My erstwhile glimpse of Cosmic Consciousness
When I was just eighteen (prepared for by
My reading Emerson, if I must guess
And if there was a prior reason why)
Expanded just as much my heart as mind—
Both quaked and swelled with radiant, delicious joy,
While my felt knowing grasped a world designed
For love and light no darkness should destroy.

Thenceforth, a spark of luminance endured
And flared occasionally when I would find
A kindred soul who felt likewise allured
By something we might call the Cosmic Mind:
A consciousness pervading all that is
Throughout the universal premises.

*