Just Beyond Your Nose

Just Beyond Your Nose

Out there,

Just beyond

The tip of your nose

Is what people

Usually refer to as reality

Behind your eyes

In your brain-box

You keep a mental picture of it

That you also refer to as reality

You self-adjust

Your picture of reality

By comparing it

To things around you

By trying out your ideas

To see if they appear accurate

And to see if they are able

To do work for you

And accomplish goals

You self-adjust

Your picture of reality

By talking to other people

Gathering ideas

That you think help paint

A better picture

Of the reality

Out there

Just beyond

The tip of your nose

Here's the catch---

No one has ever seen

Perceived or imagined

The reality beyond their nose

With anything

But the rough canvas

In their brain-box

Painted with mental pictures

Of that same reality

There are two things

Of which you can be certain

First,

Like every other creature on this planet

Humans have evolved in such a way

That our mental pictures

Are accurate and useful enough

To allow us to function

Under most conditions

Second,

Reality out there

Just beyond your nose

Is so much more

Than it seems

Simple as a single word

More complex than

The sum of knowledge

In all of mans books

Real as the ground

Beneath our machines

Illusionary

Like the whisper of a rainbow

While the earth wanders its track

--- a wheel in the sky

With spokes made useful

By the emptiness in between

Woven quietly by nature

As we all daily dream

A fine silk tapestry

Far, far richer,

Far more intricately,

With greater fullness of color,

Passion of design,

And depth of infinite detail

Than you or I or anyone

Who has ever lived

Has ever been able to splotch,

Blotch, swipe, or dibble

Like children just learning to paint

In a few kid colors

With our simple mental brushes

Dewey Dirks