But wise men perceive approaching things
by Constantine Cavafy (1915)

Because gods perceive future things, men what is happening now, but wise men perceive approaching things.
—Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, VIII, 7.

Men know what is happening now.
The gods know the things of the future,
the full and sole possessors of all lights.
Of the future things, wise men perceive
approaching things. Their hearing

is sometimes, during serious studies,
disturbed. The mystical clamor
of approaching events reaches them.
And they heed it with reverence. While outside
on the street, the peoples hear nothing at all.

Some people go through life looking through a microscope
while others spend their time looking through a telescope
Is it any wonder we have trouble communicating?

Microscopes magnify the small things
Helping bring the seeds of issues into clear focus
Aiding our understanding of how small things
even those things that are too small to be seen
unaided by the naked eye
are actors in the daily drama of our lives

Telescopes bring close the far things
Helping bring the future into clear focus
Aiding our understanding of how far away things
even those things that are too far to be seen
unaided by the naked eye
are actors in the daily drama of our lives

Language gets lost traversing the cellular to the stellar
both require understanding
that things that cannot be seen
exist
matter
have import
perhaps science and faith
share a common struggle
are actors on a common stage

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.”
– Corrie ten Boom*

* Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom (15 April 1892 – 15 April 1983) was the first licensed female watchmaker in the Netherlands. She along with her father and other family members, helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. She was imprisoned for her actions. Her most famous book, The Hiding Place, is a biography that recounts the story of her family’s efforts, as well as her time spent in a concentration camp.