Out of the Cave [Haiku]

up ahead,
 light washes into the cave,
  and I stagger out. 

Escaping the Cave [Common Meter]

Climbing a mountain, I feel like
  I've escaped Plato's cave.
 My senses reel as though they're a
   crew of newly freed slaves.

The sky is bluer, rivers green,
  each grit granule is clear.
 And even at the very edge,
   there's ease in feeling fear.
 By "ease" I mean not frozen stiff,
   but like a friend so dear
 that one can take one's grand peril,
   a gift received with cheer.

Take me to the mountains, I say,
  where it's serene and real,
 and I can open up my sight
   to a world that's ideal.

Into the Light [Free Verse]

crawling from the cave,
like Plato's untethered shadow man

a portal to perfection,
as perfect as anyplace can be:
meaning, it has depth
&
credibility

the day is cloudy,
and yet it's blinding,
blinding to eyes attuned to 
the light of dancing orange flames,
flames seen secondhand --
bounced off a wall,
a dark, dank wall

what amazing sights
must there be -
out there

don't disappoint me
now