POET'S RESPONSE TO LAO TZU, Chapter 4

TRUE OF TRUTH

Is it true that truth is a deep water well

more ancient than divinity; a water well

older than earth, older than water?

A well so deep and clean that we

can draw from its darkness for

all the generations of human need.

The need of the first woman to

wash blood from the eyes and

lips of the first human child.

A child struggling between her

legs in the African grass where

the first human birth pains had

brought her to her knees.

Is it true that truth is an

unpolluted water well

in constant use but

never used up?

A liquid void, cleaner than time,

colder than space, as empty as

infinity, never fouled nor dry?

It was surely true that truth

was pouring forth to purify the

first mother’s first child.

Is it likewise true that those

waters will be waiting to

cleanse the final mother’s

final child?

- don brennan Tao Ch.4