Wyclif Practices the Art of Definition While
Walking to His Morning Class

                              A definition is a concise statement setting forth the nature
                              of the thing in question.
                                          — Saint John of Damascus
                                          The Fount of Knowledge, Chapter VIII

A door is an opening one goes in
or comes out of. A street is a map
for the feet to follow. Snow is
moisture frozen in white clusters
and falling through clouds. Clouds are
white, gray, or black patches
sewn into the fabric of sky. The sky is
not visible today. Neither is the sun.
The invisible is the visible
temporarily concealed, as God is
and has been for thirteen centuries now,
although His light is the light we walk in.
Walking is a form of movement
peculiar to man and taking him
away from some objects and towards others.
Thus I am walking from Balliol Hall
to St. Mary's Cathedral, which is
a building where mass is sung
and lectures are given. Both are
made out of words. A word is
(according to the saint from Damascus)
a door behind which
the Spirit of Truth waits. And a door
is an opening one goes in or comes out of.

                                           (Note)

Thom Satterlee
Burning Wyclif
Walt McDonald First-Book Series in Poetry
Texas Tech University Press

Copyright © 2006 Thom Satterlee.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.

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