Profile

Look at a Hubble
Pic of the Witch Head
Nebula and drift

Your eyes up a bit—
See it? The profile
Of a bearded man

Frowning at Rigel.
Call it the Warlock.
Pareidolia,

Apophenia,
The terms themselves pile
Up on themselves, clouds

Of interstellar
Dust and gas. Pattern
Never means a thing

Until you mistake
It for something else,
One for another.

Even the numbers,
The rigorous sums,
Make substitutions,

Dance with symmetries,
Delight in turning
Light spun through mirrors.

In figuration
And comparison
Lie all creation,

All lies, all fancy,
All meaningful things,
And what does that mean?