Article 24

To connect the dots you have to draw the lines,
He thinks on the way to Independence Hall.
There’s just enough light for him to read the signs.

Whichever way your heart or head inclines,
You’ll grasp at anything to break your fall—
It’s only when we’re pushed we draw the lines.

He comes to see that Y’s abstruse designs,
That all day long had held him in their thrall,
Were meant to train him how to read the signs,

To help him understand how self entwines
With other, making distinctions hard to call.
Do states exist before they draw the lines?

The gaps between the things that one defines
Had not before today seemed quite so small:
Worlds get blurrier the more you read the signs.

The silver key in his right hand crisply shines.
He picks a spot on the well-kept red-brick wall.
Without a thought for who might read, he signs,
And smiles to himself as he draws the lines.

[5:00 / ending / villanelle / eye / X = signature / Independence Hall]