Zbigniew Herbert : "I would like to Describe..."

Zbigniew Herbert : "I would like to Describe..."
--
I would like to Describe,
joy or sadness
But not as others do
reaching for shafts of rains or sun
I would like to describe a light
which is being born in me
but I know it does not resemble 
any star
for it is not so bright
not so pure
and is uncertain

I would like to describe courage
without dragging behind me a dusty lion
and also anxiety
without shaking a glass full of water
to put it another way
I would give all metaphors
in return for one word
drawn out of my breast like a rib
for one word contained within the boundaries of my skin
but apparently this is not possible

and just to say -- I love
I run around like mad
picking up handful of birds
and my tenderness
which after all is not made of water
asks the water for a face
and anger
different from fire
borrows from it a loquacious tongue

so is blurred
so is blurred
in me
what white haired gentle means
Separated once and for all
and said
this in the subject
this is the object

we fall asleep
with one hand under our head
and the other in a mound of planets

our feet abandon us
and taste the earth
with their tiny roots
which next morning
we tear out painfully
--
(Zbignew Herbert)
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Commentary :
When I first read this poem on Face-book, I wrote in my comment on Anuj Agrawal's page :
" This poem of Zbigniew Herbert is a hard evidence that there are Truth / Reality could be described / expressed in ways not adhering to Traditional jargon also.... "

Then, while checking for the correctness of the text, I read it again on poemhunter.com. This website asked me if I 'liked' this poem? Well! I said 'yes'. Then it asked me what category you would put this poem into?
"Mysticism"
I suggested. Then I checked for the 'Dictionary-meaning' of the word. In OED (Advanced Learners 1995 Ed., India), I found this as :
n.[U] the belief that knowledge of God and of real truth may be reached by directing one's mind or through spiritual insight(1a) independently of reason and the senses:...
I agreed with this ad hoc definition of the word.
Upon this basis of the term, I start this commentary with the conviction that the poet has the first-hand revelation of the 'truth' / Reality which is the 'subject-matter' of Upanishads.
This 'subject' he likes to give the name 'love'. Keeping focused on this 'truth' he is going to describe many things. Like 'joy or sadness' 'a light'.
He says, not in a way others describe 'reaching for shafts of rains or sun'. His insight is not so bright as a star, and is 'uncertain'. That is the way our intellect starts with. In confusion, in fog (blurred vision). He would like to describe 'courage' of 'just being oneself', 'without dragging behind me a dusty lion'. His 'courage is not a defense-mechanism, but of a kind of accepting the Reality of being. And he would like to describe 'anxiety without shaking a glass full of water'.   
And in a straightforward way he describes his understanding of 'truth' / 'Reality in a single word and in return of the word that emerged out from his very heart, like a rib of the breast, he is ready to forsake all metaphors. '...for one word contained within the boundaries of my skin. -needs no explanation. '...and anger different from fire borrows from it a loquacious tongue.' Handful of birds (the feelings and sentiments associated with love)
All these (joy, sadness, courage, anger are so mixed up / muddled up in 'me' I see them in their blurred image only)
And what white haired gentle means
Separated once and for all
and said
this in the subject
this is the object,
...
White-haired  -An old man of wisdom / wise one.
Who 'Separated once and for all'
And said :
this in the subject
this is the object, 
These two lines are the core-teaching of all Vedanta. There is a Sanskrit treaty 'दृक् - दृश्य विवेक' 'drik-drishya viveka', ascribed to Adi Shankaracharya, And deals with this theme. The whole study of Vedanta revolves around this theme (not a concept, but a hint). And there are mainly 4 schools of Vedantik thought namely 'shuddha-advaita', 'advaita', 'dvaita-advaita', 'vishishtadvaita', which deal with this fundamental theme in various ways. They are not contradictory, but true in their own way.  
this in the subject
this is the object,
--
The subject is substratum / noumenon, while the object is phenomenon. And the object is 'in' the subject.
Then the poet describes the state of sleep, when we enter the dream-state and the deep-sleep state, and return to our pristine state of being beyond deep sleep (turiya in vedanta). Though we wake-up, and do have a delicate memory of the bliss we were one with during that state, this soon fades away and we are back to the state of routine confusuon.
--
Conclusion :
This poem beautifully narrates the journey of the soul towards the source / the ever-abiding truth / Reality.
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