The World As You Know It

nothing produces faith more clearly
than a simple map
showing places known too dearly
yet far more you’ve never seen
and only hope
to God
exist somewhere as if within a dream–
you see the borders fast and sharp
which tell you where you cannot go
to which the soul’s imagination
only cries, “to hell with that!”
(“to hell”? is there a map for hell?
oh
well)
and so you dream again
of places far from homeland security–
daring frontiers already conquered,
oceans already braved,
beasts already tamed
(you see them in the zoo)
–and yet these things you see in faith
for you have never really been or seen,
for all you know they may be fantasies
the children of an idle brain
a steady pen
and clever marketing,
for all you know your room is the only Here
and it too vanishes when once you leave it
which you never do,
for all you know, it’s all a lie–
for all you know is only that which other hands have drawn you…