We Have No Wisdom

We have no wisdom.
we who have lived so long
So long
you would think we would know something
but we do not.
Except for the hard-won discovery
that we do not know.

I’m sorry. It doesn’t sound like much,
It has taken us forever to get here,
just before we all disappear.
You see, we lived this illusion of expertise
for a painfully long time.
We thought we knew
and we shared it with unforgivable ease.

I hope you didn’t listen to that nonsense,
but I’m afraid you may have
just as I listened so long ago,
hoping for an easy answer
a shield to hide behind.
So ashamed of not knowing
and wearing fancy clothes.

We have no wisdom
we who have lived so long
So long
and now, crawling at last into the open air
unclothed and wrinkled with age
smiling and at peace with our ignorance
Breathing in the sweet and precious air.

— DanielSouthGate