We Did Not Know Poem by Larry Levy

"Savoir" and "connaître" wrote historian Walter Laqueur—

on one hand there's knowing the wall is beige
the floor scuffed, the kind of knowing without wonder
without eyes welling over, that something is true

but not true like the penitent's cry for God's sake
not true like the bullet piercing the heart of a deer
in a clearing, the deer jolted awake.

That other knowing gasps at a secret made plain—
easing into a tub and the tub overflowing
or flying a kite and touching the key

or a family claiming not to know where the neighbors are—
the one-legged veteran, the toddler with doll and comb—
as they move into their now vacant home.