And lastly: "In the evening, we shall be examined on love."
It's a title I robbed shamelessly
from Saint John of the Cross--
was a Spanish mystic.
In the evening, we shall be examined on love,
and it won't be multiple choice.
Though some of us would prefer it that way.
Neither will it be essay, which tempts
us to run on when we should be sticking
to the point, if not together.
In the evening, there shall be implications.
Our fear will change the complications.
No cheating will be told.
It will try to figure the cost of being true to ourselves.
In the evening, when the sky has turned that certain blue, blue
of exam books, blue of no more daily evasions,
we shall climb the hill as the light empties,
and park our tired bodies on a bench above the city,
and try to fill in the blanks.
And we won't be tested like defendants on trial,
cross-examined till one of us breaks down, guilty as charged.
No.
In the evening, after the day has refused to testify,
we shall be examined on love like students who don't even
recall signing up for the course and now must take their orals,
forced to speak for once from the heart,
and not off the top of their heads.
And when the evening is over and it's late,
the student body asleep, even the great teachers
retired for the night, we shall stay up
and run back over the questions each in our own way.
What's true, what's false, what unknown quantity will
balance the equation?
What it would mean years from now
to look back and know we did not fail?
I thank you very much.
Thank you.