Plato and the Fall

Socrates says that trees have nothing to teach us. And with that, the fall begins,
the human fall from grace. A fall the trees could, of course, teach us about.

Plato can have a dialogue with his own texts; he writes them out, he studies them,
he has more thoughts, the process now has its own momentum. Who needs trees?
Who needs winds to breath with, streams to enter and converse with? We fall
from the world into language, a delicate, terrible prison.

I babble, therefore I am, thinks Descartes, a little later. Beyond his window,
the world fades away, flattening and draining. Leaves stop talking; tongues are the only tongues.

This labyrinth, this mental forest stocked with non-trees. Memories are stalking me,
thinking's a walkabout. I raise my hand within my mind and wave. To what?

Copyright © 2002 David Young All rights reserved
from Meridian
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission