These truths are told in riddles,
because any of the words,
if taken without the whole,
would miss completely,
would lead thought
down a cramped and narrow maze
with no conclusion,
just a looping back
to the same old tired illusions,
cause and effect trapped
to serve the ends of lies

But once the whole is grasped,
its presence becomes obvious
in every story, every hope,
each earnest effort,
and the light, which, after all,
had to be there for us to see anything,
turns out to be the substance of our being,
and we’ll  be no longer duped to think
it has to serve the shadow  –
the shadow disappears, and we are free.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 30, 2021