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Haiku.

"The author of the Journal of a Pupil describes a meeting between Gurdjieff and Crowley, but it is clear that they had nothing to say to one another. He says, 'Crowley had magnetism, and the kind of charm that many charlatans have; he also had a dead weight that was somehow impressive'-- that is, Crowley was a 'man of power'. 'His attitude was fatherly and benign, and a few years earlier I might have fallen for it. Now I saw and sensed that I could have nothing to do with him.' He does not describe the tea, except to say that Gurdjieff kept a sharp watch on Crowley, and says, 'I got a strong impression of two magicians, the white and the black--the one strong, powerful, full of light; the other also powerful, but heavy, dull, ignorant.'" —Colin Wilson, The Occult (1971)

Absences.

“GREEN LIGHT

Bought at the drug store, very cheap; and later pawned.
After a while, heard on the street; seen in the park.
Familiar, but not quite recognized.
Followed and taken home and slept with.
Traded or sold. Or lost.

Bought again at the corner drug store,
At the green light, at the patient’s demand, at nine o'clock.
Re-read and memorized and re-wound.
Found unsuitable.
Smashed, put together, and pawned.

Heard on the street, seen in a dream, heard in the park, seen by the light of day;
Carefully observed one night by a secret agent of the Greek Hydraulic Mining Commission, in plain clothes, off duty.
The agent, in broken English, took copious notes. Which he lost.
Strange, and yet not extraordinary.
Sad, but true.

True, or exaggerated, or true;
As it is true that the people laugh and the sparrows fly;
As it is exaggerated that the people change, and the sea stays;
As it is that the people go;
As the lights go on and it is night and it is serious, and just the same;
As some one dies and it is serious, and true;
As the corner hardware clerk might know and it is true, and pointless;
As an old man knows and it is grotesque, but true;
As the people laugh, as the people think, as the people change,
It is serious and the same, exaggerated or true.

Bought at the drug store down the street
Where the wind blows and the motors go by and it is always night, or day;
Bought to use as a last resort,
Bought to impress the statuary in the park.
Bought at a cut rate, at the green light, at nine o'clock.
Borrowed or bought. To look well. To ennoble. To prevent disease. To entertain. To have.
Broken or sold. Or given away. Or used and forgotten. Or lost.”

—Kenneth Fearing

Wasistseingesicht.