The Wisdom of the Aged

the blind poet

is satisfied

one out of three

how can vision 

lack in sight while

the third eye sees

This poem was first published in Loch Raven Review, Volume 17, 2021.

Here is some background to this poem: I've been having serious problems with my vision. For a difficult while, I thought I was going blind, and was about to take up braille! Things are better now; I can still read, albeit only with one eye.

The original title of the poem was 'poeta caecus,' Latin for 'the blind poet,' such as in Homerus poeta caecus erat. 'Poeta,' like 'agricola' is a grammatical exception, since it is a masculine noun with a feminine ('a') ending. One might have expected the Latin to be 'poetus,' but that would be incorrect. (Maybe a prescient ancient Roman wanted to avoid the word, 'poetus,' since it might be confused in the future with POTUS, which almost always is its antonym).

The poem contains six lines of four syllables each. Its subject is the wisdom that (often) increases with age. Although vision, along with other bodily functions, deteriorates, the third eye, wisdom, can more than compensate for the loss of visual acuity with a spectacular, broader 'view' of life and death, thus enabling one to 'see' that everything is connected. Most important is that one, thus inspired,  acts accordingly. At least that's the ideal. Research does indeed indicate that older folks tend to be happier; now you know why.