Knowledge

Of the vastness of clouds
We knew nothing;
We slept in houses underground.


How the sun brings day by spreading light across the sky,
How night covers the earth in darkness
To reveal the stars, the planets


In their courses fixed
For eternity—


Here, what's left of the lost book On Knowledge ends.

Where was I born?
Where was I when my mother fell?
When Gail died?

Convinced 
Of the gods' existence that
These wonders were their handiwork—


New Jersey.
Asleep.
Asleep.

— James Longenbach