Their own reflection

Casting their nets into the waves of speculation, 
they bring up no fish, 
only their own reflection, 
and nodding in approval to one another, 
they head back to shore, 
where they will count the fish that they have not caught, 
only imagined. 

Fantasy upon fantasy, 
when the Lord Himself is not just near us, 
but among us, 
notwithstanding His second and glorious coming, 
the judgment, 
and the last day. 

Even as reality is not just planned but all plan, 
so is the world not just bits of ikon here and there 
but all ikon. 

Everything points to and glorifies the One 
in whom we were hidden 
before the foundation of the world, 
and in whose embrace we now live through love, 
now and unto the ages of ages. 

Glory to Thee, O God! Glory to Thee!

— Romanós