09-09-2025, 10:24 PM
There are nine lines. There are Ten Spheres on the Tree. As I was writing, it occurred to me that the poem itself was the Tenth, I didn't think about why, but it seems to work.
The first line is the whole poem. The Ninth Sphere is the so-called Unconscious. The Eighth is Intellect, and the Third Sphere, which is Mastery, which is Understanding above Knowledge, is reflected in that lower Sphere adversely. The Seventh corresponds with Passion and Desire. Since these are below the Sixth Sphere of Harmony, they are harmonized but in adverse sense.
The dead leaf is free from the Tree, and reflected in the Tenth Sphere, the Kingdom, the whole poem, is the whole tree. The second line/sphere is raw energy throwing aside, the third is taking force into form, the fourth is Mercy and stepping aside, the fifth is Severity solidifying the Hood.
This is the Fool's Journey into maturity and a consensus reality. The Path back to the Fool and beyond is or could be a higher truth.
So the last stanza is a sort of complaining or lamenting from the point of view of those lower Spheres, seeing the Higher Spheres as impossible and experiencing their position as failure.
The poem is that Hooddom. The Higher Spheres are nevertheless available and no less real.
The Middleman is Thinking, and speaks in prose.
I don't have an intention of being clear or making sense of all the time. Obscurantism and even Flaw are part of my toolbox. That makes me a Romantic.
The first line is the whole poem. The Ninth Sphere is the so-called Unconscious. The Eighth is Intellect, and the Third Sphere, which is Mastery, which is Understanding above Knowledge, is reflected in that lower Sphere adversely. The Seventh corresponds with Passion and Desire. Since these are below the Sixth Sphere of Harmony, they are harmonized but in adverse sense.
The dead leaf is free from the Tree, and reflected in the Tenth Sphere, the Kingdom, the whole poem, is the whole tree. The second line/sphere is raw energy throwing aside, the third is taking force into form, the fourth is Mercy and stepping aside, the fifth is Severity solidifying the Hood.
This is the Fool's Journey into maturity and a consensus reality. The Path back to the Fool and beyond is or could be a higher truth.
So the last stanza is a sort of complaining or lamenting from the point of view of those lower Spheres, seeing the Higher Spheres as impossible and experiencing their position as failure.
The poem is that Hooddom. The Higher Spheres are nevertheless available and no less real.
The Middleman is Thinking, and speaks in prose.
I don't have an intention of being clear or making sense of all the time. Obscurantism and even Flaw are part of my toolbox. That makes me a Romantic.