Awe's the Word (Poetry)

Philosophers tease out the truth - inspired
and reverently poised upon the brink
of understanding life - their minds on fire,
their intellectual biros burning ink.

Read a few words, then read them through again,
note how those long-dry words are deathless proof -
ideas spun out, repeated, making plain
small wisdoms generate the greatest truths.

Does no one hear the distant echoes chime
down centuries grown dark and numb from war?
Did no one grasp the theory at the time
or, dazed by insight, stand awhile in awe?

What use are thinkers if the world is deaf
and fails to tremble at laws carved in stone?
Temples fall and faithless men are left
without an answer, baffled and alone.