Mental Landscapes
The terrain of my psyche’s a realm untamed —
Expansive vistas where brilliance roams free,
Majestic mountain thoughts proudly enflamed
With the golden lumen of eternity.
These sun-drenched summits inspire flight most grand,
Unfurling perspective as vast as the sky.
Up here exaltation and wonderlands grand
Reveal their profusions to soar the mind high.
Yet rugged ravines plunge vertiginous there -
Crevasses of anguish and shadow-draped woe,
Where gnarled night demons hold glowering lair
And whispers of doubt bleat like shadowed lamb’s bellow.
Oh how swiftly fickle the pendulum swings,
From splendorous visionary raptures of light
To abysses sepulchered — those hollowed sarsens
Where solace and solace forever take flight.
To traverse such mental landscapes unmapped
Is a sheer mountaineer’s gamble of spirit,
As precipice temptations lie treacherously capped
With thick delusion’s fog, coiled to sere it.
Some paths unfurl smooth, lazuline dream-dales
Where meadows bespangled in garlands of peace
Lull every anxiety’s tempest to vales
Of radiant serenity’s balms and heart’s ease.
More frequently though, the mind’s turbulence kinetic -
Fierce gales of raw panic, aggression, and ire
Whipping up squalls of obsession frenetic,
Reducing tranquility’s graces to mire.
These howling brain-storms arise without warning,
Black cumulonimbi bruising the vistas deranged,
Dark cloudbursts of acid regret, past lives mourning,
Self-savaging torrents of feelings estranged.
Through the torrential miasmas that rampage and blitz,
Confusion’s dense vapor obscures all reason’s light.
Blind and defenseless, the lost self-worth skits
On crags of resentment, slick with despair’s blight.
When at last the tempestuous storms have abated,
A profound depletion subsumes every thought.
Raw wounds of shame and harsh judgments targeted
Leave charred mental landscapes to writhe and be wrought.
Yet this rich psionic earth cannot help but renew
With miraculous outcrops of fortitude’s grace.
Green shoots spring bravely again into view -
Perseverance and wisdom remapping the ways.
From among the scorched ashes, faith recomposes
Clear pools reflecting perspective’s soft skies.
Wildflowers of insight break vibrant as roses,
Sweet respite-scents mending what anguish decries.
Through valleys and mountains, clear days and galed rain,
I learn the resilience of exploring my soul —
With each winding trail and grandiose plane,
I divine the interminable, infinite whole.
So embrace the exultant apogees sublime,
And dare to plumb whirlpool depths of dismay.
Through shadow and luminance and glory’s bright climb,
What intricate wonders these landscapes survey!
