Substance and reality

In the course of my life in this world everything
has got covered by a thick crust of uses and categories
in my thoughts, people's thoughts,
until the substance and reality of things
can no longer be seen,
and only fossilized concepts are left scattered around.

Now, pushing aside that crust from off my thoughts,
I re-examine everything, one thing after another,
in imitation of my just 100-day-old granddaughter

and although I cannot yet see as clearly
as that monk who proclaimed 'mountain is mountain
water is water'
still, constantly entranced by the wonder and profundity
of everything,
I do not notice the passing of time.