Joyce went over the cliff with Finnegans Wake 
got criticized for prose no one could read 

John Coltrane coaxed his sax to speak in tongues 
and left so many listeners behind 

someday you too might fly up to the starred
third heaven and bring back a shard of awe

a work of genius like Ulysses or
A Love Supreme but venture out one step

too far the universe will stop you cold
she’ll force-feed you the language of the spheres

with no translation guide or help at all
it’s exquisite but to us ordinaries

gobbledygook 

ask St. Paul in his Paradise with words 
no mortal is permitted to repeat

yes that’s what you’ll bring back

if you come back 

but if you want to stay well that’s different
the universe she welcomes every guest

you’ll dance with the great throngs of holy ones
who found their way to God to All That Is

the deepest Real and dissolved themselves 
into the This where Coltrane sought to go 

sure some of us return but not the same
no words or sounds just shimmer in our chests

an ecstasy that was and is and will 
please don’t think it’s only for the few

no everyone’s invited to the awe
yes me and everyone 

and you

~

Feature image The Wanderings of a Comet, from Another World by  J. J. Grandville, 1844