"Approaching the Threshold" poem by Shiv Charan Singh

APPROACHING THE THRESHOLD


I look, then look away

Never quite seeing

The other looks, I lift my head

The other looks away

I look down



I listen, yet drift apart, never quite hearing

The other listens, my voice cracks open

The world drifts apart

I return to silence



Reaching out to touch, I withdraw

Never quite touching

The other reaches out

I begin to melt towards its embrace

The other withdraws

I close the doors



Standing on the threshold

Of this life which is no life

This death which is no death

Falling into the threshold beyond here and now

Or there and then

Beyond controlling or being controlled

To be the happening

From where all doing arises and returns



All want it yet all avoid it

It is the seed of addiction

The root of our longing

The well of our emptiness

The fountain of our calling

The origin of our chaos

And the basis of all our structure



Moments of space and corners of time

My two faces meet and depart

Until they speak the same word and become one

The threshold

Shiv Charan Singh, "The Court of Karam Kriya"

Threshold: umbral, borde.
The sill of a door; a horizontal piece of wood or stone that forms the bottom of a doorway and offer support when passing through a doorway. ; A region marking a boundary. ; The starting point for a new state or experience.

Umbral:

* principio o primera parte en el desarrollo de algo

* valor a partir del cual un fenómeno se vuelve perceptible

* madero o piedra que atraviesa el vano de una puerta en lo alto y sostiene un muro