Nearby in the Gutter,
Common wisdoms wriggle.²
Wisdom is more becoming
Viewed at distance than at Hand.³
This year’s wisdom is
Tomorrow’s Folly.⁴
We are always Seeking—but
Never more than very dimly seeing wisdom.⁵
Wisdom is a favoured guest—and Hunted.⁶
We have a Fire in our hearts, desiring the
Deathless qualities of wisdom—⁷
The light of wisdom falling upon a fool reveal,
Together with folly—the austere outline of Truth.⁸
Hours of folly are measured by the clock—
But of Wisdom, no clock can measure.⁹
Wisdom is justified of her Children.¹⁰
¹ Dogen Zenji tr. unknown, quoted in Introduction to The Essential Dogen
² Paul Celan tr. Popov & McHugh, In the Most Remote
³ Emily Dickinson, I Worked for Chaff
⁴ Yoruba proverb
⁵ Gertrude Stein, Three Lives
⁶ Edna St. Vincent Millay, To a Friend Estranged from Me
⁷ St. Augustine tr. unknown, Confessions
⁸ Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince
⁹ William Blake, Proverbs of Hell
¹⁰ Matthew 11:19 (King James)