19. Fingerstring
Pictures, mantras, prayers and statues,
gurus, retreats, lashes and masses,
sutras, mandalas, beads and bells,
candles, rose windows, crosses and stars,
banners, altars, incense and idols:
what is it we forget?
And why? Sloth? The devil? Vanity? Pride?
And why do we forget we have forgotten?
Tell me why acceleration is such intense pleasure,
why Charlie Chaplin is funny,
and Bach is not,
why Amor Vincente is magic,
and Guernica is not,
why Charlie Parker was,
and Bernstein wasn't,
why we embraced Freud,
and we didn't Mad Bill Reich,
why we were in Vietnam
and we were not in Sri Lanka,
and all the night will deafen us both
with its omniscient, sparkling silence.
