In Their Eyes

To look into their eyes is to know them,
To feel as they feel is to be them.
But do not look too closely,
Nor feel too strongly.

In every man's eyes is a different world.
Every woman's a different view must be.
But some of their sights the others must not see.

Some of them, Earth born, view it from without.
It is always below them, never around them,
Threatening to fall away and be gone.

In their eyes the Earth is a pebble,
The stars but toys, mankind but backward children.
Oh beware their eyes, with their hidden daggers!
You with complete understanding, do not go within,
Unless first you read the signs: "Abandon all sanity,
You who would enter here."

To look into my eyes is to know me,
To feel as I feel is to be me.
But do not look too closely,
Nor feel too strongly,
Nor see too well.

—San Diego
1972?