Shadows of Enlightenment: A Paradox of Perception

A mind that sails a cosmic sea,
In search of answers, ever free,
Tied not to faith’s familiar shore,
In truth’s embrace forevermore.

A comfort sweet, the world can bring,
In tales spun 'round the hearth's warming ring.
Yet the seeker, eyes starlit, gazes on,
Finds solace not in the singing throng.

In unseen currents, thought-waves roil,
A ceaseless, self-inflicted toil.
A labyrinth of thought does breed,
While others find ease in a single seed.

Where others laugh, the seeker sighs,
The gulf of understanding wide in their eyes.
A lonely ship on the vast, inky main,
Each star a thought, a pleasure and a pain.

Within the confines of learned halls,
No challenge found in whitewashed walls.
For those who've tasted the cosmos’ fire,
Find earthly teachings quick to tire.

Yet, a beacon does the seeker find,
In the endless expanse of the curious mind.
Glimpses of infinity, the silent song of a distant quasar,
In the grand scheme, we're all but a tiny avatar.

Such is the path of those who yearn,
To explore, to know, to discern.
In the cold void of the unknown,
They find a universe to call their own.

With every question, the journey anew,
The cosmos calling, vast and true.
For all its trials and for all its worth,
They'd never trade their love for truth.