The Cardinal Point

Grip your ribs then

Rip, and so expose 

The lodestone that

Is yours alone:

Your heart, the pulsing 

Magnet of your soul.

Now feel the keening wind

That blows so cold,

Nature’s Novocaine to

Dull the pain as you 

Explore the gleaming 

Contents, the slime and 

Shine, of your wet  

And throbbing core.

But as you probe,

Peel back the films

That lie in layers 

‘Neath your skin,

Can you find your 

Body’s clock? Your 

Will that felt as solid 

As a rock? Does your 

Digging cause to appear

The conscience that you 

Thought so clear, so

Clean, without a smear?

And what clammy cavity 

Did enclose your moral 

Compass? Did wet fingers

At last expose the 

Glistening vault that 

Did it encompass?

Now that you’ve undone 

The zipper of your 

Torso with more care

Than Jack the Ripper, 

Have you learned at least 

That there’s no magic in  

The meat separating

Man from beast?

Even if you emptied all,

Every organ did remove 

‘Tween your breastbone

And your spine, you’d

Never find the key to 

Man, for both the lock

And key are but ghostly

Goals, dreams on deposit,

Invested by the human 

Race in the mem’ry

Banks inside the space 

Wherein you reside and 

Which you’ve chosen 

To call your mind.