This World of Doorknobs

​This world of doorknobs,
Ice-rock mountains in Argentina,
That starts to smudge
When we are handed the subpoena

To appear in heaven,
To contemplate the mystic,
But this world resents
This insult, it grows atavistic,

It throws off the bonds,
It blows cylones, tornadoes,
Glaciers snap off,
Crushing Schweitzers and Platos.

And when we drill
Under the depth of the river
We find in the filth
A delicate shiver,

A quiver of pearls,
Pulled from the core,
That we rinse and make shine
In our role as janitor,

And contribute to the diadem
Of holy reflection
That gives beauty,
A sweet refection

To the Life of galaxies.
And we find
That the poison wasn’t
Ugly, the snake behind

The blind, because
Wherever the swamp flowers uncurl,
Noisome and vaporous,
A pearl remains a pearl.