This World Is Not Conclusion (Honoring the Poetry of Others)

  this world is not conclusion

a species stands beyond –

invisible, as music –

but positive as sound –

it beckons, and it baffles

philosophy – don’t know –

and through a riddle, at the last

sagacity must go –

to guess it, puzzles scholars –

to gain it, men have borne

contempt of generations

and crucifixion, shown –

faith slips – and laughs, and rallies –

blushes, if any see –

plucks at a twig of evidence –

and asks a vane, the way –

much gesture, from the pulpit –

strong hallelujahs roll –

narcotics cannot still the tooth

that nibbles at the soul –