Shedding Ignorance

By Andrew R. Duckworth

I.

There are higher mountains,
Much higher,
But even the enormity of those
In northern Utah must be experienced.
No mere words do them justice,
No picture adequately captures
Those steps leading to the heavens.
And from the top, you can see much.
But even at the highest heights,
So much evades the naked eye-
Secret meetings behind closed doors,
Exchanges of money by night shadows
That vanish with the rising sun,
The panthers prowling
In the high grass.
Ignorance, it is said, is bliss.
There is merit in the sentiment.
It can save the soul from depths,
Save the heart from a breaking pace.
But, without knowledge,
How would you save yourself
From the the stalking panther?

II.

The panther has your scent,
Is licking its lips,
Has its gaze locked.
What good does it do
To deny the panther’s existence
When it is mere seconds away
From making you its prey?
What good does it do to run
When the panther can leap
Like a bullet from a gun?
Face the truth head on.
In the wild, running
Makes you the gazelle to the lion,
The mouse to the hawk.

III.

There is no sense
In denying the obvious,
In flooding the mind
With intentional distraction.
Even the mountains.
The mountains, my private solace
In the midst of the storm,
Can be detrimental
Without first taking a survey
Of the surroundings,
Of noting the predators and the prey
And finding your place
Among the food chain.
Then, and only then,
Can you gaze upon the mountains
Without the panther consuming you.