Perspective

I lean into Romanticism 

by which I mean the Sturm und Drang 

understanding that intuition 

waits in the shadows of the idyllic past

when we dream of who we might have been 

and who we may become 

the tempests of emotion 

toss us upon their canted waves

to remind us of the frailty 

of the boats we build 

to remind us that the trillions 

of nerve endings are singing to us 

in each instant for a reason 

I beg you to reach out over the white peaks 

until the foam is close to you

until you can nearly taste 

the power of the ocean

it will hit your senses like 

the snow when it is wind-driven 

sometimes it is too much 

sometimes it is almost too much 

the beauty of the living is inseparable

from the strands of your dark hair

where the rain has kissed them

from each feather of the flighted wing

from the fish with its jeweled skin

and the wrinkle at the edge of the eye

when you look into the reflected self

with a face of judgment

your vision is deceiving you

because there are few things

under the dome of the sky

under the artificial lights

that are more beautiful.

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism#/media/File:Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Wanderer_above_the_sea_of_fog.jpg