I Read A Book Of Philosophy. Barry Pittard Poem by Barry Pittard

I read a book of philosophy
I read it to see if a soul was in me
And to touch the Philosopher's Stone
I could not see a soul in me
So I thought - I will need to be shown

In that book of philosophy it said
That the soul does not exist
And that we conjure up some fanciful name
But a notion is all that it is
No matter we opine that the soul is divine

In this light my mind was a sky lit up
And the notion of soul I dismissed

I read another book of philosophy
I read it to see if a heart was in me
Like crying - is there anyone home?
Not a soul was there to answer me
I thought - I still need to be shown

And in this book of philosophy it said
That the heart hardly even exists
That the heart is no big entity at all
That an organ is all that it is
And that we are inane to say the heart is a flame

In a mental flame my mind lit up
And I gave the heart a miss

Well I found myself grow grumpier
And prematurely old
And shrunken to the size of my frontal brain
I was heartless and stony cold
So those books I gave or flung away
That gave away heart and soul

But it's lovely when a smile lights frightened lips
When a refugee child shoots a smile
It's lovely when a chickbird's wings unfold
It's lovely not to think for awhile
When you can't walk away but stand transfixed
When you feel you're a part of the whole
Heart and soul

Lovely
Lovely