Moments When Eternity Seems Clear

You think about the inherent qualities of a feeling
That there’s something like it to have certain kinds 
Of mental states you think for example that there's 
This thing it is like to see in the Mauritshuis the blue 
Headband of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring  
Or that there’s this other thing it’s like to listen 
For the first time to Jacques Brel sing “Les Bourgeois” 
On an old four-song record you found at Goodwill 
You think about the properties in virtue of which 
These things are true of some states of mind yet not
Of others and you see how each is very different 
Like racing bulls and sailing on the Rhine

You know there’s no comparison no way to say

Why you sometimes moan like nobody’s business