THE BEGINNING OF KNOWLEDGE
Shy Sarah, young girl
with hands to shape
A boy whose star hangs
low on his horizon,
And who has stumbled down
the ladder and played
In tar. His parents laugh and praise their son,
And eye this girl who may be tailor-made,
A far-flung hope they
cast their dreams upon.
Young Sarah sees him half
way there and grooms
His ragged hair. To prudent heights, her
sights
Drive upward. Visions youthful dreams illume.
She's woman's expanding
girth, with appetites
For life that can't be hers. Yet, still unmoved,
And birthing words that blear tradition blights.
The boy adrift with glass
and tipping hand,
His liquid life contains
no limits---just blackouts.
The written word of books
to him is foreign,
Whose wisdom at his feet
lies still. Devout
To nothing, lives his
life in fantasyland,
But never laughs, and neither does he shout.
Though all misled, the
people he meets observe
That never a nicer boy
they've ever met.
His full devotion, he
tells, his mother deserves.
He'd surely paint her if
he had a pallet
And brush. And time in Hades he'd gladly serve
To save his father, he
says, from brazen harlots.
Blind Sarah hears his
selfless words and through
Her misty gaze assures
herself a boy
Like this is rare----his
liquid habits soon
Will dry when smart
employers soon employ
This hapless boy. And if he were her groom,
She sees a life like
those on celluloid.
His parents, smug while
hands they hide, and wipe
Them free from tar. They praise incessantly,
Poor girl, with ringing
bells, till starry-eyed
She hears their tone and
grabs the rope quite firmly
To ring them harder. The scheming couple tantalize
And draw false
dreams---their son a prince, so kindly.
O Sarah, what have you
done? Your castle
Dissolves with rain. The prince you wed still
sits,
Awaits his wealth with
blood remarkable,
A spark would set
aflame. And now a pit
Of tar your eyes swim
through. Despicable
In-laws turn their
backs---your "failure" they quit.
B. Benjamin
Pentameter
sestets
BBP206