So much

you can learn
from such a small space. Imagine Emily. Kant, too.

it leads one to believe

that to know one life truly
is to know all lives really, and that to know one place absolutely

is to know all places beyond a doubt.

Maybe this
is the true loveliness of stillness, just a single pure moment

needed to make life
complete, every filament of time masquerading

as clandestine, undiluted
Being—

there isn’t enough happiness in this whole world
to see
if our eyes are closed.

Nick Courtright is the author of Punchline, a National Poetry Series finalist published in 2012 by Gold Wake Press, and Let There Be Light, which is forthcoming in early 2014. Find him at nickcourtright.com.