Territio Realis

No part of my education,
Not as a little Baptist boy,
Not as a graduate student
In the heyday of lit theory,

Ever included the level
Beyond literal Word of God,
Metaphorical Word of God,
Allegorical Word of God

To reach the anagogical,
Jesuitical sophistry
Reaching up to the fourth story,
The garrett of higher meaning,

Above the movement of spirit,
All the way to we just say so
Because we know we can so,
And you can't be sure that we can't.

The inquisition of a text,
Past exegesis, confession,
The interpretative display
Of the instruments of power.

There is a point beyond which words
Will break, weep, speak what we tell them,
Not because truth is relative,

Meaning socially constructed,

But because we know what must be,
And what must be said, and compel
All the the devils of hell to leave

Us alone through faith in nothing.