Here Be Bats

Here Be Bats Here be bats and cellars, Locked and unlocked doors, Communicating corridors And bulls that do not bellow.

Here be attic exits, Old men and heroes sized To fit an animal's disguise.

No man may reject it.

Here be caves and swallows, Cracks in doors and hollows Which no sunlight follows, Meandering streams and shallows.

Symbols of eternity Abound within this place of self.

They can unconscious mind engulf With vast creativeness.

And at the center of it all (The end of the mandala's call) Lies something just behind the wall Which leads to life.

It is the final space you enter, Bliss and forming at the center, Unexpected thing, not bought.

It is the thing you sought, Carl Estrin