It was a simple dispute.
I went through my mind
but I could not find
a reasonable route

in a mental wink
so I suggested we go
to a local bistro
where we could think

and have an exchange.
Said he, "No, let's just walk
out there for our talk
and I will arrange

the chairs on the roof
so that we will feel free
to argue and see
the evidence and proof

of our statements of truth."
Out the window we stepped.
Up the rocky face we crept
and not long was the youth

to the top of his game
as I grappled and grabbed
thorny issues that jabbed
my assumptions and claims.

Clung to page after page
on that vertical crag
for an anchor or snag
or a muse to engage.

I eventually clawed
my way to the crest.
There I thought I could rest
but my conclusion was flawed.

He was ready for action.
Now after the climb
up this precipice of time
I prepared my abstraction.

But then looked around
and breathed the bright air
of the journey there
and the soul I had found.

08/14/2002

Posted on 08/14/2002
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