The Cave, the Cove

This morning I had the distinct impression that we, being the human race, are still in Plato’s cave: dancing away the hours in the darkness. Outside, the sun is somewhat overcast, and the green ocean waves crash on the beach. An old fisherman walks the coastline, lost in the memory of the day that the sea devoured his wife and daughter. Meanwhile in the attic bedroom of a small suburban house, a boy is learning about sex with the neighbor girl. The soft afternoon sunlight filters in through the window, warming the feather top bed. Her father is an astronaut, who stands outside at night looking into the darkness with his sky blue eyes. He knows that if the earth is a cove, then the answers must lie in the outer blackness.