Against the Horizon
Against the horizon,
you must always consider
three skies: the one you see,
the one you think about,
and the one that’s really there.
Our illusions falter on an edge
we prefer to imagine,
a definition beyond sight.
But the eye has no horizon,
the mind no extension
beyond itself. Each sky
is the mirrored apprehension
of its own idea, and each idea
propels us further into
the essential symmetry of landscape,
which neither reaches nor recedes.
Peter Taylor has published three books and his poems, which explore how history and imagination shape our perceptions, have appeared in nine countries. Peter Taylor lives in Aurora, Canada.
This poem has previously appeared in Canadian Family Physician, 2005