Arrows

An arrow pointing up;
an arrow pointing down;
and myself too human to see how valueless
and arbitrary the directions.

And I'm thinking as I write this poem,
that lower more vulgar language wouldn't suite the
theme which is of lofty thought;
and I think the feeling of the poem shouldn't be down or depressed,
nor one of very heightened pleasure,
but something more neutral
to symbolize the utter neutrality of the arrows,
which I can't myself comprehend.

And I'm thinking that my audience for this poem
isn't the lower class;
and though I don't look down on those with low incomes,
I think people with higher education levels
will better understand my point.

And I think of poetry that reaches up to the heavens,
and goes down into hell,
to search out what is universal and describe it.
I see something more significant
in the very locations of these places,
though still too human to comprehend how arbitrary they are.

And as I conclude my poem,
supposing in a strange aberration that
it's all downhill from here,
I feel I won't ever really be on top of the world
until I can look at those arrows,
and comprehend the neutrality
an unfeeling intellect tells me must be there.

[1999]