I returned to the temple
seeking God and
knowledge
it’d been months
since I was there
but that same cool
embrace of air conditioning
and quiet history
welcomed me
as though I never left
and I found many ideas
there
perhaps too many
for one lifetime
but I marveled at
what a lifetime of learning
I had awaiting me
and I walked where
the words of Jesus were
and I read the titles on every spine
and there were so many invitations
just waiting for me
and more ideas sprang
to my mind
as I walked down the aisle
and went on to
Buddhist studies
and then Jewish studies
and I walked further
and I found physics and
gardening techniques
and paperback romances
and self-help manifestos
and other attempts to wrestle this world
into our understanding
and then there were
the show biz biographies
I always loved
I looked at Bob Dylan’s “Chronicles”
and an anthology of Peanuts cartoons
and a line of true believers
waited for their chance at the internet
and more still were in line
to take some books home
it was the first place my parents
ever let me go my myself
it was the first place
I ever had a calling
it was where I learned about the world
where I would meet
homeless people
newly arrived refugees
and the occasional elected official
while still growing up
cloistered in Fullerton, California
I was on my lunch hour
and I knew this communion
would have to end for today
but I’ll be back
in two weeks
to return the autobiography
by Larry Fine
that I borrowed today.
Buy my book now... I'm tired of plugging it.