Timothy Allen

Just Beyond

Listen to the audio version read by Sean Mahoney.

We who are in the world
See all manner of things, and
We who cannot see,
See them, too:
Boats in the harbor,
Subdued and vaporous;
Trees on a hill;
A dog running, and
Leaping a stone fence.
All in fleeting greys.
Crowds on the streets, and
The students in class;
The chair and the desk,
The mug of black coffee;
The couch with its cushions, and
Even the ottoman.
These things are all there,
For us, too;
Sartrean templates,
Wispy and gossamer;
But:
The swells lapping the hulls, and
The leaves murmuring and quavering;
The dog panting and pawing;
The voices and footsteps;
Whispering jeans, chirring sweaters,
fluttering jackets, slumping backpacks,
The scuffs of the chairfeet,
The cushions caressing;
Tingling aromas, and
Breezes stroking our fancy;
All of them
Intermingle richly with our
Diaphanous images;
Suffusing in them concreteness;
Creating an arabesque
Of reality, just beyond
The cane's reach.

Timothy Allen is trained as an academic philosopher; adventitious vision loss, however, has rekindled his dormant interest in poetry and fiction. He lives in the mountains of upstate New York.