Chameleon on the Glass

There once lived in the mystic world

Chameleons with eyes of pearl

The scales and pattern of their skin

Could mimic all their eyes took in

The hue of rainbows they had caught

And changed at will by taking thought

Yet their true form and color lost

And origin at length forgot

Their instincts leaned towards blending in

Surroundings thus became their skin

Upon a rock their camouflage

Was so exact, it gave them pause

“We must be stones”, yet One resigned

“A stone does not my soul defined.”

“Perhaps our nature’s as the green,”

“Of grass and leaves.” and some agreed

And so they split from their own kind

For they were of a different mind

And thus became some reptiles green

Despising other color schemes

Yet still the One sensed something wrong

“I am not leaves, nor as a lawn.”

“I’ll find the truth as I am able.”

Then left the rest, and shook the label

And thus it searched both far and wide

Exotic tones wherein to hide

But found no home and became rash

“My true nature must be to clash.”

And so exposed its unique form

Then bore the brunt of fellow’s scorn

Yet knew its difference but a lie

And sought the water’s edge reply

Its surface stretched as if a mirror

Reflections bounce was crystal clear

And endless image it repelled

A vortex shape absorbed in self

Confusion reached its fever pitch

In who was what and which was which

Then closed its eyes all to subtract

The outer world--its skin turned black

The other lizards gasped in horror

“Its demon turns exterior!”

But essence journey must begin

Alone the search for self within

To flush from soul and shed the skin

That stains our hearts and minds therein

Invent we thus our genuine

For bounds are scribed as imagined

Just then its skin began to glow

Strange waves of hue, and tone did flow

As others awed, it stood dead still

Displaying colors stark surreal

Then into focus scenics true

A rising up from birds eye view

Above the pond, above the glade

Above the rocks its trek displayed

As soaring through a cloudy maze

Above the earth towards sun ablaze

Erupting in ethereal white

Its skin shed forth a brilliant light

That caught the gaze of all His kind

As six drew near with eyes aligned

To form a circle of the seven

As if a rite of prayer to heaven

Then waking from His vision saw

Twelve perfect pearls of retina

Which sent a tingling through their skin

And lit a fire of ware within

Then something happened far more strange

Their bleak surroundings morphed and changed

The deserts bloomed, the heavens swirled

T’was in their souls to shape their world

Now patterned in their flesh we see

The oneness lost to hell’s own Lethe

Empathic pearls sought of the wise

Fill up their souls now full of eyes