Midnight Wisdom

The cover was detected
Somehow it came through unspoken,
Misconception burns to be set right.
Attitudes were concealed, like the shining
Sent from Empyrean for those who could understand it.
In the long standing custom everything changed,
Breaking forbidden rules questions unanswered remain
About the drills taught in the dark
Alone to oneself, on the isolation shelf.
Few are worthless, though many had to be repeated,
What was not expressed must be forgotten
Since famous last words all appear rotten.
If only memories would vanish
But we know, don’t we,
That they will come alive again.
Years ago, “mine own” was born under Northern Lights
With difficulty the wisdom was shared
Laced in bitterness and derision.
All this came with the Mentor
Who put the school in order,
But when anxious words were finally whispered,
The lessons were pulled in and held tight
Like a vacuum, then turned off altogether
Dropping like flies into the chalk outlines
On the broken classroom floor.
He would possess me if I fold -
Close the door once more,
Oh why I did not see the signs while dashing
Through the luminous city at night
I shall never know.
It was too late for sunset, too early for dawn,
So I stand like the Emu
Dreaming of flight
Under the stellated power of my keeper.

Photograph:  "Jacob wrestling with the Angel"
Gustave Dore, 1865, engraving from "The Holy Bible".
"Midnight Wisdom", ©1980, Janice Stiles-Boults