Three Poems: The Quest - Surviving - Limits

By Jack Brummet

The Quest

It’s all one story—
A ragged shape-shifting tale
Of incredible coherence and constance,
Encompassing all you know,
All you don’t know you know,
And all you one day will know.
There is more
To be seen, tasted, heard, and felt
Than can ever be known or told.
Our myths flourish and spread,
Person to person,
And the mysteries of the seas and skies and stars
Fill our collective conscience
With mystical scenes,
Quests, and tales of greatness.
These myths, tales, and fables
Cannot be invented, ordered, or denied.
When you strip away the stage flats, makeup, and costumes,
It’s all one story
Starring our private heroes and dreams.
                   ---o0o--- 

Surviving

Salvation lies
In remaining unblinded

To the treachery

Massing around you:

The enemy without,

Calculating your fall

And the traitor within,
Beating in your chest.

        ---o0o---

Limits

We like to believe
We could endure anything for five minutes

But that theory, cooked up
In your hermetic study or bedroom,

Comes apart at the seams
When you imagine being on fire

Or having crows feast
Upon your eyes.
                  ---o0o---