issue 27 > nonfiction > hoffman > barringer

But they are themselves in quest of themselves in motion only
From 'Waves' Daniel Hoffman, The Center of Attention
(Vintage Books, Random House, 1974), p. 42.



In quest of themselves in motion only
They are themselves. They are moving
Invisibly inside themselves. They are moving
From their brains down into their bodies.
They are thinking. They are breathing,
Each molecule of themselves reinventing
Itself in its quest for itself. They are making
Themselves into their souls striving
To stand still as a stone, and they cannot. We cannot.
We are the animals, the vegetables, the reptiles, the birds.
We are the fields of grain, the waves, the words.
We cannot stand still. We are the molecules
Of the stars, the galaxies, the dark matter.
What is in our breath is everywhere
In the ferment of our own making.
What is in the writhing molecules of our desire
Is the desire to stand still and to be immortal:
We desire to become the stone
Not knowing that the stone desires to become the star
Not knowing that the star desires to be the dark matter
And that the dark matter desires nothing more
Than to become the Word. O Lord,
Let Freedom ring from these shores.