This morning, in a comic strip¹, I saw
A word I doubt has ever been exclaimed,
A word so powerful, so crammed with awe,
Involving human bliss (or grief) untamed.
Anoesis—check it out! Emotion,
Sensation—pure, untrammeled by the spell
Cognition always casts. Feelings that shun
All thought—shimmering heaven or bleak hell?
The notion took me back to innocence,
To ancient Eden, harboring that tree,
Before morality gave birth to sins,
When male and female wandered nude and free.
One bitter bite (defining virtue, vice)
That cost us all the loss of paradise.
(7/11/12)
1. Non Sequitur, Los Angeles Times (7/8/12)