7/7/2003

I walk down
the long hall
with its
high vaulted ceilings
nodding to
Shakespeare
as he might
well
have looked
Aristotle
alert
and impatient
Plato
Socrates
the look of
a pub brawler
Demosthenes
his days of stuttering
behind him
Swift
Cicero
others
who did their best
to take
a good look at
what
we are all doing
in
the great mixup
having just seen
a fine lot of
colored drawings
and text
altar architecture
they call it
luminescent
done by
a handful of
Celtic scribes
and artists
in the 9th century
then
on to
the cheese monger
for a wedge
that will last
several days
before passing
the great green
metal vault
of a door
closed and locked
somewhere
in the labyrinth
of alleys
on our way
out of town
if all goes well
to a tomb
more than
5000 years old
fully lit by the sun
only
once a year
on the day
perhaps
when the dead
cross over.
Oh
the things
we have seen
and will see
before our stay
is over.