Last Book Of Wisdom

Last Book Of Wisdom
© Surazeus
2017 12 12

Malik walks amid the ruins of cities,
cluttered with the cracked skulls of movie stars,
to search among the ashes of lost knowledge
for the last book of wisdom in the world.

He stands before statue of Albert Einstein,
who plays atomic notes on violin,
and asks where he can find amid the ruins
the last book of wisdom in the whole world.

Trudging on highways full of rusting cars,
Malik pauses by bus of skeletons,
then watches nothing fly in empty skies,
and listens to wind hum through broken doors.

Entering another city of tall towers,
fragile skeletons of red rusting steel,
Malik peers at bright indifferent sun,
and steps through door into library hall.

Dust particles swirl from steps of his search,
each one a lost letter from pages of books
that crumble when he opens them to read,
and sighs at the vanity of his quest.

Locked behind unbroken glass in large case
the textbook gleams in rays of light that beam
through broken windows, lost treasure of truth,
the last whole book of wisdom in the world.

Leaning close to the glass with reverent eyes,
Malik reads the title of the textbook,
"The Basics of Physics and Chemistry,"
then gasps and folds his hands in prayer of thanks.

Cleaning away mounds of dust and debris,
Malik creates a shrine around the case,
and cleans the glass till it glitters bright blue,
then sits to guard the holy book of truth.

For sixty-eight years the last man on Earth
sits guard and cleans the glass case every day
so sunlight gleams in halo of pure truth
around the last book of wisdom in the world.

Closing his dim eyes at moment of death,
Malik smiles satisfied that he kept safe
that last book of true wisdom in the world,
just as bricks fall and smash the book to dust.