The Eternal Question (A Retort to a Son’s Search For Meaning)



How can the part comprehend
the whole of which it is a part?

A part apart
from the whole…

that, being blinded by its own
centrality…

as an individualized part,
is constrained to discover

in its eternal pursuit
perchance the thought

its own integral wholeness
in the Whole?

About this poem

The Lingering Mystery of the Singular ‘Self’ Seeking to Comprehend Its Collective SELF: Several hours after posting on line this poem, “If You Do Not Stare You May Yet See,” my son, a practicing attorney in New York, puzzled by the message of the poem, and at the same time struggling to make sense of it, forwarded a text message to me that read as follows: “What is this that feels like a fragment in time? Are we all one, everywhere at all times? Is this a journey with synchronized movement? Or am I staring, looking too hard and missing the point?” My son’s text message generated my own response, entitled “The Eternal Question” which, although not representing a full robust response to my son’s earnest question, is the title of this newly submitted poem.  

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Written on October 25, 2021

Submitted by karlcfolkes on October 26, 2021

Modified by karlcfolkes on September 24, 2022

17 sec read
318

Quick analysis:

Scheme XA AB XX AX XX XB
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 291
Words 59
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Karl Constantine FOLKES

Retired educator of Jamaican ancestry with a lifelong interest in composing poetry dealing particularly with the metaphysics of self-reflection; completed a dissertation in Children’s Literature in 1991 at New York University entitled: An Analysis of Wilhelm Grimm’s “Dear Mili” Employing Von Franzian Methodological Processes of Analytical Psychology. The subject of the dissertation concerned the process of Individuation. more…

All Karl Constantine FOLKES poems | Karl Constantine FOLKES Books

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    "The Eternal Question (A Retort to a Son’s Search For Meaning)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/112775/the-eternal-question--(a-retort-to-a-son’s-search-for-meaning)>.

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