They set forth in boldness, valiance,
to forge a mind uncluttered
a skyborne homonculus
that would see ideas
as birds see the horizon
to taste without hunger the apples of Eden
and divine if understanding is deeper without delight
and I sat in the scents of my dust and blood
bare toes curled over moss-strewn rocks
within a chill, pure stream
engrossed in the lurid raptures of isolation
and minutiae
reading pronouncements of noetic triumph
from the walls of my stomach
and the backs of my eyelids
