This Unveiling by Drew Jackson 

Do you ever ask yourself—what is it that we cannot see? Poet and CAC Staff Member, Drew Jackson asks us to embrace the webs of unseen connection that underlie our daily reality in this beautiful poem, “This Unveiling,” featured in “ONEING: Unveiling.” 

This is  
the pressing question   
of every age:  

What is it that we cannot see?  

For life is hiddenness,   
as is God,  
and we have been given   
the gift of searching. 

The unseen works on us, always. 

Waves pulsing through our flesh, unfelt. 
Forces pulling at our bodies. Forces 
putting black bodies in cells en masse. 

Each one underneath a veil of opacity that we call law.  

All that is hidden   
is meant to be   
revealed,  

yet revelation cannot be achieved.   
It comes when it comes,  
when it wants to unearth itself—   
fall from the heavens like light  
to those who have insisted it lay itself bare.  

This unveiling,   
daring us  
to live differently. 

Reflect with Us 

How do unseen forces shape your connection to others?  Share your reflection with us. 

Drew E. Jackson is the Director of Mission Integration at the Center for Action and Contemplation. He considers writing to be one of his deepest connections to the Divine. “This Unveiling” was featured in “Oneing: Unveiling” the biannual journal from the Center for Action and Contemplation. Drew lives in Brooklyn with his wife and twin daughters.  

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