Knowledge Of True Love

Knowledge Of True Love
© Surazeus
2023 09 02

Bread and cheese on round table by the door 
discuss philosophy with apple juice 
to understand why light slants in the window 
that illustrates old sorrows of mankind 
we give each other with unspoken words 
in painting of last duchess on the wall. 

Tracing origins of genetic coils 
back through aggressive bodies of my mothers 
who journey nameless on the river shore, 
I wake in forest of tall apple trees 
where I see face of my dead mother smile 
from glowing cloud above the distant lake. 

The man with the hunting rifle of fear 
invades Garden of Eden at midnight 
to steal rainbow wings of the serpent queen 
who screams with laughter at the broken moon 
till millions of people driving in cars 
wake startled with strange knowledge of the sky. 

While strolling with the busy crowd at noon 
of office workers heading out to lunch, 
I float slow in sudden epiphany 
that fills my mind with knowledge of the world 
explaining rise and fall of world empires 
based on the humbleness of men in power. 

Running backward in cheering stadium, 
lithe quarterback hurls the pig-skin football 
ten thousand miles into the starless sky 
where Apollo catches it in his arms 
then runs across the spinning galaxy 
to score touchdown in black hole of the heart. 

Sixty thousand Children of Israel 
who escape slavery in City of Angels 
dance in torrential rain on muddy plain 
around tall statue of the Burning Man 
till tornadoes spiral from whirling bodies 
and howl with the knowledge of good and evil. 

By eating mushrooms of the holy mind 
that sprout from bodies rotting on wet sand 
I feel immortal soul of atoms shine 
from pulsing black hole of my dreaming brain 
so I remember when first mother wakes 
while crawling river stream to lake of dreams. 

Yet after all these visions fade away 
at gleam of rainbows after thunderstorm 
that crackles over verdant hills of hope, 
I see bread and cheese on the dining table, 
so I smile at nameless ghost in the door 
who kisses me with knowledge of true love.