The Sphere of Man

Poem by Ruth Salles

With my feet firmly on the ground
and the face lifted high,
I see the starry sky.
The whole sky is half a sphere
that surrounds me distant
– behind, sides, ahead –
my crystal castle,
with its ideal shape,
like an upturned chalice,
by a thousand illuminated suns.

And then, imagined
an axis inside me
and turning around like this,
forward I'm looking
and always, always, opposite,
I see the horizon line (…)

But from my feet below,
hidden by the earth,
there is another half sphere
that I look for, but don't find;
another crystal sprinkled
of a thousand lights in the vastness,
like another raised cup
to support my floor.

***