who are we

Who are we?

Who are we to reach
Toward that we cannot touch,
Illuminated by the scintilla
Of a passing thought.

Who are we to claim knowledge
In the midst of our ignorance,
To impose an order, a human scale
On the recalcitrant material of our worlds?

Who are we to stretch across the chasms
Of self-containment,
To indwell the otherness of a being so un(like) ourselves,
Supported only by the thin substantiality of flesh and words.

And yet,
How can we do otherwise,
Be otherwise,
Than to seek completion beyond the bounds of who we are?


Robert Neimeyer