POEM: Post-Enlightenment Enlightenment

Back
from the edge I cringed,
back from the abyss to which
the existentialists
inexorably led--

crawled
unsteadily instead
into Christ's sense
to catch my breath
and balance
and be fed.

Today
I ventured forth to view
how far we've come
since Nietzsche, Sartre and Camus
only to find
semesters out of mind

They're still waiting for Godot.


(Published in Inklings, Summer, 1994)