I, Me and Other
Poetry by Gill Schwartz


MAKE THE SIGN

Make the Sign with your naked hand
on the rough and wounding wall.
With your hand still bleeding
Go to the houses and mark it round the doorways;
the mystic Sign will be pure red
against the whitewashed stone.
Scrawl it on scraps of paper
that you will leave there in the middle of the road.

Solitarily and curiously, they will come to it
returning weary from their days work,
they will see it.
Carousers and lovers will come to it
late at night glaring from the walls.
Quiet old people and children will discover it
on the paper scraps everywhere.
One by one they will see it,
and those who see it must strive to know it.

It is a humble man's work.
If you mark your name, it will confuse them.
Then it will take them longer.
You understand, it must come to them
as a personal message,
from no one, or from some god.
That way, they are free to decide.
They are naturally self-enslaving
so they must be given no choice but freedom.
Freedom will force them
to the necessary conclusion.

Any Sign would do, you know,
A circle, or a picture of a cow, anything at all.
We only use this Sign because
it is the secret and center of the Universe.
But any other would do as well.

You will remember now,
mark it on the walls, round the doorways,
leave notes in the nooks and crannies.
Then, when you have finished, forget it all.

Later on you will notice this strange mark yourself, and,
perhaps, if you continue to ponder on it,
you might , one day,
begin to understand it yourself.

Copyright Nathaniel Schwartz 2003   www.WisdomVisions.com