Down and deep descending, into head-bumping dark
To a putrid, chamber, dingy and cold
He was led, by the somber-civic- townsfolk
No tactual door, nor windows nor walls,
No North, South, East, West, just gloom
His knees badly shook, as if distempered
He sensed boney frailty beneath his trembling robe
Thus abandoned, he resolutely awaited mortality.
His bent elbow then met an unseen switch
The room soon lit, it freshened and warmed,
Windows and high clerestories did appear
He could now discern, a continuous shelf, with
Titles like, Paine, Hume, Darwin, Erasmus
Soon came blue-sky, verdant fields, leafy trees
Nature’s vista, lit by its empirical solar magic–
The holy emanation of Human Enlightenment.
-p.
Leonard N. Shapiro, 5/8/22
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