The children are left
Behind, in a winding wood.
I gently say "Don't
"Fall behind, children, for the
"Woods can be a maze. Don't stray."

I am a plain man like Jacob---
So said the scripture, now,
Time has wended and bended
And brought us this story---

My performance is plain
My words austere and full
Like an Amish Maid
More beautiful than any other.

Yet, I am a plain man like Jacob.
And the audience looks, and sees
My butter churning upon the oak barrel.
It goes upon life, like bread, which though plain

Nourishes the soul with a slight hint of grain
And that flavor is best among all others.
For, it is not tainted with spice
But rather is a deep, satisfying wheat.

So much ecstasy in meaning
So much… but it is now all gone.
Silently, I muse upon nothing;
My mind is a quiet well.
All roads lead back to melancholy.

It shows there is an end to wisdom
And a beginning to folly;
Beginning to folly...
Let us just live and experience,
Yet not do so foolishly.

There is meaning in life
And it is to dance,
And rear children with one you love,
And it is to pluck the wildberry 
From the stem in June.

Yet, no one can attain this joy
For all alike go the same
Working tirelessly like I have
And putting their meaning into it.
There I have found little.

©2024 B. K. Neifert
All Rights Reserved

I am white. I cannot help it.
I am Anglo-Saxon--Scotch-Irish, PA Dutch-Polish--
I am a Protestant. That I can help, but do not see any other religion which fits me.

Do you wish me to appropriate your artform?
Then let me have mine, won't you?

The place our good letters play
In the country--Mr. Lewis, 
I am not expressing self
But trying to save many souls--
Is to be a beacon for a better world.
It is not expression of self
But expression of what's true.
It transcends our bodies
And our minds, and communicates
The eternal Providence which guides
Nations, which Indians call Dharma
Greeks Logos, Chinese Tao.
It is so mystical, but it shouldn't be.
It is the eternal truth beneath our language
And the substance of our thoughts
Of which, if there were no substance
There could be nothing of which to say.
Thus, my substance is to save the soul
To save the country, and to save myself.

For men to grow up,
We need women in our lives. 

Women don't want men, 
So we don't grow up.
Women become single parents,
Boys are their children's fathers,
A whole crop of brats are born who don't know love.

This causes more frustration, 
And frustration causes war and violence.

There is something about me, which isn't serious
No matter how hard I try to be.
People like me when I play the fool
Because I cannot trick or deceive,
But am a bumbling idiot they can lovingly condescend to.
I try... but my rude speech doesn't entice the listener.
My "Grammar" is bad, but it's that they don't want to listen.
My reasons for believing in God are not substantiated.
Though they are.
People see I am 35 and poor, and no job...
Success breeds success.
Fame, fortune, and popularity makes your word sound credible.
It could be I have solved mysteries,
But no one will care to tell.
It could be I am a silly genius which does my act in the woods---
I cannot perform for you. For I am silly.
I cannot hate Jews, or love Queerness, or wear Purple and Pink or tight fitted jeans.
Rather, people want there to be no good and to see no good.
For it is a mind virus.
Thus, life is about ingratiating the desire...
And no one ever sees there could have been more.
I am an anachronism, a relic, an artefact;
An imitation of older times.
I am new, and old, and modern, and archaic;
Futuristic and anachronistic and ancient.
Shall my time come in this lifetime? Where I can eat, drink and merry?
No... for all want to eat drink and merry their way
Which has no love;
I need love to be happy, and that resource is vanishing like the wind.
And that's all I ever had to say, was we need love.
Not John Lennon's love, but real love.
Not the Hippy's version of the Gay's.
Real love.

"Love is love."
Yes... and you know nothing about it.

1.

Know the way, but do not depart.
See it, but do not say.
Speak it, but not to excess.
Know only to walk circumspectly,
And do not daggle by falling off the balance.
For if you soil your garments by straying to the left or right
You are monumentally off the path.

Seek, and you shall find.
Know, and you shall understand.
But that which is known is known
And that which is unknown is unknown.
But what is known, can only be truly understood
If it is seen by others—
That which is unknown cannot be known by others.
But that which is not perceived, is not known
And cannot be knowledge.
And that which is knowledge,
Cannot be known if it is unperceived.

2.

To understand is to see what others have seen.
To communicate, is to cause others to see what you see.
To know is to see what others have seen.
To communicate, is to know what others have seen.

Underneath language is truth.
Underneath words are substance.
There is a faith associated with substance
That what is underneath is understood.
Can we know the substance of other's speech?
We truly cannot, but we truly can.
Hidden in the mind is its knowledge
And shared in another mind is its knowledge,
And two minds meet, and find new dimensions of the substance of language.

3.

To see is not to want to see.
To know is to want to know.
To see is not to want knowledge as you see it
But to see knowledge as others see it.
To perceive the words of other minds
Is more knowledgeable, than to see your own mind's knowledge.

Half of words are unperceived,
Until much later, they become perceived.
The mind has grown, and sees knew things.
Do not let your mind darken
Into seeing the dark
But let your mind see light.
If there is no light in what another says
Do not be ashamed for hearing,
But shine your light upon it to brighten up what is cursed.

4.

Minds darkened by foolishness know nothing
Save their own desires.
Minds lightened by wisdom, see all men's desires are the same.
Yet, the foolish man, has foolish desires
And does not seek what he ought to seek.
For he is foolish, and desires that which will not make him happy.
Thus, the fool knows nothing but his own foolishness
And destroys the precious seeds of faith in others.

For all things are derived from substance and faith in that substance;
Not anything can be known, without the substance.
For, even the simplest thing becomes unknown, without seeing the substance.
Thus, the substance is lost, due to ill conceived desires
Which seek for the lesser pleasures of life.
The substance is found, by seeking the higher pleasures of life.
What are the lower pleasures of life?
Flesh.
What are the higher pleasures of life?
Trust.
Of the flesh, there is no trust or want for knowledge toward your fellow man.
Of trust, there is community and bonds and winsome agreement, and truth.

5.

Where there is no trust, there is no faith.
Where there is no faith, there is no knowledge.
Where there is no knowledge, there is no truth.
Where there is no truth, there is no compassion.
Where there is no compassion, there is no love.
Where there is no love, there is no mercy.
Where there is no mercy, there is no friendship.
Where there is no friendship, there is only self.
Where there is only self, there is only flesh.

Know the way, but do not depart.
See it, but do not say.
Speak it, but not to excess.
Know only to walk circumspectly,
And do not daggle by falling off the balance.
For if you soil your garments by straying to the left or right
You are monumentally off the path.

Seek, and you shall find.
Know, and you shall understand.
But that which is known is known
And that which is unknown is unknown.
But what is known, can only be truly understood
If it is seen by others—
That which is unknown cannot be known by others.
But that which is not perceived, is not known
And cannot be knowledge.
And that which is knowledge,
Cannot be known if it is unperceived.