In A Dark Time, The Mind Begins

I'm Sure I've Been A Toad, One Time Or Another. With Bats, Weasels, Worms...i Rejoice In The Kinship. Even The Caterpillar I Can Love, And The Various Vermin.

Who Rise From Flesh To Spirit Know The Fall: The Word Outleaps The World, And Light Is All.

What's Important? That Which Is Dug Out Of Books, Or Out Of The Guts?

Art Is Our Defense Against Hysteria And Death.

O Lord, May I Never Want To Look Good. O Jesus, May I Always Read It All: Out Loud And The Very Way It Should Be. May I Never Look At The Other Findings Until I Have Come To My Own True Conclusions: May I Care For The Least Of The Young: And Become Aware Of The One Poem That Each May Have Written; May I Be Aware Of What Each Thing Is, Delighted With Form, And Wary Of The False Comparison; May I Never Use The Word "brilliant."