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154
Years pass and we sink into
The body. Now warily there
I fi nd I take a kindly
Interest in the more or less
Faithful old mount (that is
When fairly healthy), wrily
Admiring its survival
Of pain sickness and danger,
With recollections of work,
Food, sleep, love, talk; of places
Where for moments all was well.
And one day we are body,
And nothing more. Though spirit
Is instructed by the body
Not the other way around,
It's in the spirit only
That instruction can take place
-- Of what grand elaborate sorts --
While a defi nition of
The body might be: What knows,
Really knows its lessons, so
Is a fully accredited
Member of the cosmos. While
The spirit, born ignorant
Of its own rules, and the world's,
At the end has, at best, earned
Only a provisional,
Temporary membership,
Still more ignorant than not
(Which must befi t it, must be
Of its nature) -- and at worst
Will be all but blackballed (yet
Never quite, even at worst?)....