My body was born into this planet Earth
many years ago,
therefore I place Earth
before all other planets,
my birth took place in the country
known as Britain,
therefore I place Britain
before all other countries,
the land of my birth in these isles
is the land we call England,
therefore I uphold England
against the rest of Britain,
the town of my origin in England
is the capital town of London,
therefore I support London
before all other towns,
my birth was in a house
therefore I love that house
and place it before all other homes.
This house has since been demolished
and ceased to exist,
the house no longer visible
loses its basis in reality
as though it had never been
just a hole in the world, my world.
Now having no base for its existence
the house becomes unreal,
if it can be removed from the land
then it becomes only a remembered reality
a true reality could not be removed
or even changed.
Therefore if the house of my birth
can be made non-existent,
then also the street, district, London,
England, Britain, World
and all else having no greater claim to reality
are also seen to be illusion.
In the end all things cease to be,
becoming figments of the world mind
and in this my birth
which took place in an illusory house,
therefore its self loses reality
thus my body in reality does not exist,
any more than my house of origin
now does not exist.
I have lived this illusion
without seeing through the veils of deceit,
all things have only limited lives
in a shadowy existence,
the atoms of dust swirl and dance
to form the pattern of life,
that is soon swept aside
by the winds of time,
a design is shaped and drawn
upon the face of the land,
but when you reach for it the picture changes
and fades into the mists of illusion.
Richard Allen Beevor
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-illusion-22/
