I Let the Stars Assume the Whole of Night

"I kept my answers small and kept them near;
Big questions bruised my mind but still I let
Small answers be a bulwark to my fear.

The huge abstractions I kept from the light;
Small things I handled and caressed and loved.
I let the stars assume the whole of night.

But the big answers clamoured to be moved
Into my life. 
Their great audacity
Shouted to be acknowledged and believed.

Even when all small answers build up to
Protection of my spirit, still I hear
Big answers striving for their overthrow

And all the great conclusions coming near."

"Answers", Elizabeth Jennings

Often we find that, while processing something of significance in our minds, we turn our thoughts to that which is less relevant - indeed we become obsessed by minor details when we really should be dealing with matters of greater import.

One might find oneself distracted by clearing out a drawer when they really should have started to draft out a paper.  Alternatively, one could become obsessed with clearing out their car when they should focus on moving home.

More than once, I have wondered why our brains take off on their own little journey into the unknown; try as we might to focus our thoughts on the task at hand, it is a Herculean task to bring it to toe the line.  The brain will focus where it wants to focus.

Yet one should not, for a moment, be fooled. While dallying with thoughts of smaller significance, the greater questions are clamouring in the distance, awaiting to be dealt with. For the subconscious continues to process whatever it needs to process, and the small matters are only a shield ("bulwark") to whatever it is that needs to be dealt with.  There will come a time when the larger matters will take over and occupy one's thoughts - it could be at any moment, and it will take one by surprise.

In letting "the stars assume the whole of night", we allow the small matters to dominate our life, confusing the wood for the trees. It is only in taking one step back from the micro-detail, that one can see the bigger picture and take the situation for what it really is.

Only then, will the big questions stop bruising one's mind and find the answers that can make one's existence complete.