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Between dog and wolf

When contemplating dusk
certain things come to mind
there's the dawn to dusk
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features at the drive-in
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where you wish
they had A&W
window service
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but in addition to drive in-ins
the owl of Minerva comes to mind
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for she takes flight only at dusk
because wisdom
somehow
is the bright light of the dark
remembering that we all live
in Plato's cave
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far from the sun
also intruding in my thoughts
quite unexpectedly
the French expression
L'heure entre chien et loup
making me think
how we distinguish
tell the difference
between friend and foe
fact and fiction
or maybe between
fact and fearfulness
and just then
I wonder whether it's undoubtedly true
that the forest is where foreign begins
because to live on the edge
of the woods
is in itself a great feat
calling to mind
the miracle of clearing
felling trees and burning the stumps
turning the earth to the plow
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hewing and carrying
to the end of days
except when
it's necessary
to enter the forest
and take the woods
on an errand
to the other side
to save the present
from a surfeit of the same
and an insufficiency
of what is actually needed
such is the call of the wild
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in the hearts of the content
who find it so hard
to be easy
no matter how well prepared
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they return to the wolf
and it will ever be thus
until the cities
are connected
like the mates of Ecclesiastes
whose hearts are snares and nets
and whose hands are fetters
persevering
at times playfully
now and forever
till the end of time

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