6194. LIKE LEANDRA OF OLD

LIKE LEANDRA OF OLD

What then is wanted : how many things,

and how much of each? If I wander

westward, only mountains and no coin. 

If I go east, the ocean. If I remain, here,

a rich man in a peculiar destitution.

Let me list : Descartes maintained that

the essence of Man consisted in the

ways of 'thought' and thinking. Aristotle,

by his own reckonings, had called out

for the same, instead, as 'contemplation'.

The essence of Man is the contemplative.

There's a difference, right there, already.

Elaborated earlier by Plato, in 'Symposium' 

and again in the Phaedrus, it was found instead

to be Eros  -  or as 'Mankind' finding satisfaction

for its 'Love' unending. Freud said Man's

essence consisted of 'desiring'. Oh dear,

so much. So many the distances between.

Now  -  by these all factors  -  I find 

myself just needing to remain.

-

The next thing I know they'll say

I'm Chippewa. (If I kiss you,

I'd have to kiss them all).