A Students Encyclopedia without an apostrophe Volume Eight beginning with German and ending with Hokusai A porch book at the library for ten cents that I got for free Is the first thing I see this morning where I have come home to die Beside my bed aside my head outside where it went in before And having read it now I wonder if I might go back for more Of what feels right to read by night to better understand my day Though I need to know new things as I go I never have known why But never mind the why when by the what of curiosity I wonder where Volume Nine is now and know what I need to look for Now that I know how I need to know more I will keep looking to Find where books are left behind some questions answered there in my mind About what comes after Hokusai and what about Volume Ten Could it still be on the porch or has it been recycled again? And is it too late to take Volume Eight back where I got it and Though with no dime ask the porch to accept my respects paid by rhyme? In lieu of anything better let a penny be a letter Let words have meaning let me be a patron of the library Where I have come home to die as I just make an exchange this time For what comes after Hokusai and hope someone might understand Someday what I do not or I forgot new things I never knew The universe for better or worse is a thing that is always new To be and do to me and you as the lotus unfolds it holds Lessons I learn the hard way like you do as it becomes my fate To be or not to be by poverty to learn my thing or two Or three or four or five to show for having made it home alive If though to die and not know why except for now or never then When the why of the what of Volume Eight says I am not too late For Volume Nine a hopeful sign by which I choose to be to see A Students Encyclopedia without an apostrophe +Steven Curtis Lance Copyright MMXI