Poetry and Introspection

Let the power of poetry unveil for you

That which you enthrall …

That which is dormant …

And, in doing so, will ignite in you a passion!

Laura Simoes

To those of us who embrace poetry, there have been moments in our lives when we have felt a burning desire to captivate our inner most feelings … the core of our essence … and secure it close to our heart. It is a compelling moment, when contemplation finds revival, as our thoughts take a gigantic leap and drop anchor into oblivion, a place where time is but for the frenzied, where beauty moistens each dew drop and where the mind encounters the serene and the untouched.

Regardless of the magnanimous strain that prevails in the predominance of introspection, each person is captive to its alluring presence – benevolent or indifferent – through which dissemination and bareness is paramount. Dissemination will broadly diffuse in the mind, whether awareness abounds or not; strategically, one must be enthusiastic and inspired to tenaciously intake such presence. Conversely, the mind must also embrace its austere state, if realization of such existence can be endured.

Naturally, the mind may be insidious and seen off balance, whereby stabilization and bare-boned acceptance will enable a state of unification. Nonetheless, what takes precedence is that the mind is lustrous and gradient to the very nature of introspection. It is purely from that sphere that introspection seizes to gravitate its roots … Ethel Barrymore could not have phrased it better as “The day you have your first real laugh at yourself”!

Poetry, at its best, renders a “band-aid” like effect, as the mind is held without restraint. It finds a niche in the overcrowded momentous state and serves to restore holistic realm, engaging the individual in a soul stabilizing reproach, wherein the mind is transformed into a level playing field. To a seasoned mind, the correlation between poetry and introspection may delicately serve to broaden the mysticism that surrounds the core realm of existence. If life and living are adorned with realistic mobility, then awareness of self can only serve to broaden and validate this mystical epitome.

Introspection may, instinctively, haunt repudiation in a fragile mind. Beguiled with a presence of skepticism and innate confusion, the mind is precarious to absorb reality. While such an undue cohesion may be short-lived, it has accomplished its task of engendering the mind, allowing it to turn indifferent and weakened.

In “The Prophet”, author Kahlil Gibran does well in speaking about Self-Knowledge:

“But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;

And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.

For self is a sea boundless and measureless”.

In the same light, Emily Dickinson longed to explore her doubts; her passion was to discover a reality beyond her senses:

“And so of larger – Darknessess –

Those Evenings of the Brain –

When not a Moon disclose a sign –

Or Star – come out – within” –

- We Grow Accustomed to the Dark

An individual’s soul naturally hungers for seemingly unobtrusive peace and calm, regardless of one’s innate strength. Certainly, there exists a plethora of means to gain insight and satiate such longing. With introspection, one may succeed in tenderly peeling off the layers to touch the soul, thereby unearthing what our true essence, in its labyrinthine state, is embodied of.

To complement this breakthrough, it is beneficial to embalm poetry as healer and medicine – mending the troubled mind. In doing so, one may release a disorderly state of mind to siphon out disharmony, while activating accord and a euphonious spirit. It is only such a configuration that may sustain and embolden the path to embrace pure tranquility and reward.