a message from the "real world"

Plato and Me

I keep running into Plato,

into his idea that there’s a reality

that is more true, more real,

than what we can perceive in our everyday world,

he had us in a cave with reality
but shadows from the outside,

that’s how I can feel about

the way the world reveals itself to me,

I feel clumsy, my hands in gloves,

the tools with which I seek to manipulate the world

only approximate to what I hope for,

whereas, behind, below, underneath, outside,

there’s a reality I guess at knowing,

one example: I teach, 
I support the learner,

and years pass,

and I just cannot clearly see outside

to where the students are in the real world,

today I got a message from out there,

a message that helps me feel 

that the efforts in the cave

can actually touch true the person,

and help them move toward the light in the world without.

by Henry H. Walker

July 24, ‘16