Knowing

[listen to poem]
 The taste of a lover's lips,
A smile across a pillow,
Deeply inhaled fresh coffee.
These are things we know,
Vibrantly alive.

 A Christmas morning's wild excitement,
Heart skipping first kiss,
The first best-friend of childhood.
These are things we knew,

Once so alive.
Recollections of long past passion
Retelling of a might-have-been
Recalling happenings gone forever.
Stored husks, erstwhile known,
Shades of the dead.
 Rumors, gossip, whispering voices,
Stories passed down fragile chains,
Twisted hints and innuendo.
Counterfeits of what is known,
Golems wandering in the mind.
 Dogma, doctrine, forms of words,
Things we learn to chant and say,
Ornate formal speculation.
Few indeed their substance know,
Stoney forts on roots of clouds.
 Shades of knowing
Murky waters
Fictions Factions Lost in fog.