The Irony

As I read
I begin to indulge the old romance
That crazy old romance seizes on my mind
The idea, so affective

That thoughts have value
That ideas have longevity
And are seated concretely in mental space

The apparent proof of that conceit
Is ranged before me
Chartered knowledge etched in ink
Bound into volumes for the contemporary eye

The vast architecture of knowledge
Appears as the skyline of a distant city
Bright contrast against the void

And now that city appears lighted
At the head of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
The pyramid incomplete
The eye
Life as the ordering principal
Complexity reaching forward from the brine
Reaching forward from feet of clay