The Eyes Have It: Chaucerian madrigal

If we can see a thing, we call those blind
who claim that it is nothing, just a dream,
and ridicule each other’s faulty eyes,

imagining the great truths that we find
are the exclusive provenance of “mine”.
If we can see a thing, we call those blind
who claim that it is nothing, just a dream.

But is it all just a trick of the mind,
a clever ruse of being that just seems
so real we use its spider webs for beams?
If we can see a thing, we call those blind
who claim that it is nothing, just a dream,
and ridicule each other’s faulty eyes.

13 Jun 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.