MAZES

by Lee Kirk

Six thousand years ago

the artisan of Gavr’inis

carved these joyous spirals

in this great slab of stone.

Superb as art, they still must be

regarded as inspired sentinels

guarding the tunnel

to that most ancient tomb;

mazes to lead the seeker

into the heart of infinity.

We are not surprised to find

that maze, that symbol, repeated

at every place and time that

humankind has pondered

the greatest mystery: Life,

and Death, and Life Beyond.

Petroglyph and pictograph,

carved or painted on the stone;

channels opened in the Earth,

or earth heaped up in sinuous mounds;

design on pots and leather,

or woven into cloth;

pathways and plantings

of boxwood or yew:

the message is the same.

I once read the clue:

make all your turnings to the left.

Or was it to the right?

I recall the words of the woman

(who would be startled by

the appellation “old”):

“If you’re being chased

by an elephant, make two

right-hand turns. The animal

will fall over, because elephants

are all left-footed.” Is that

some kind of key

to this amazing business?

Was it some archetypal cue

that prevented the patrol cop

(this related by his friend)

from ever making a left-hand turn?

“Even on an emergency

Code-4 call, he’d make three

right turns to avoid a left.”

In our darkest dreams, we run

through mazes with far too many

turns, and never any exit.

Our minds are riddled like the burrows of moles,

filled with tunnels

whose tall-tale threads

are tabled in our memory.

On Iron Mountain we discovered

inscrutable etchings in cold, damp earth.

Some ancient map? Ah, yes and no!

the tunnels of pocket gophers,

bottoms left, the tops dissolved

with the melting of the snow.

Animals and humans; we use

these labyrinths to confound

our enemies, to confront our fears.

What comes next we have yet

to learn, nor can we know

if the path of the maze

leads truly to the core.

The artist of Gavr’inis

carved his faith

in these ebullient sworls:

the joy of being alive,

in site of living in doubt.

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