I plucked the apple of contentment
and behold! it was a lotus flower;
I plucked the apple of achievement
and behold! it was an opiate desire;
I plunged into the carnal jungle
and the trees burned away
and the rains leached the infertile soil
and I left a barren waste.
All the mysteries are overthrown
by the terrible metastasis
of wisdom:
through the fleeting ages of a man
and the fleeting eons of mankind.
Daniel M. Dobkin