Enlightenment cannot

Enlightenment cannot be meaningful

for it does not speak the truth.

For the spoken word,

by then,

is out of context,

a mental scrap

to be preoccupied with

instead of now.

Enlightenment cannot be recognized

for it does not pose to be.

Image, for its own sake,

by then,

is out of context,

a memory revisited

from the outside in

instead of now.

Enlightenment cannot proceed

from understanding,

for it does not follow from itself.

Understanding will make do

and by then,

is out of context,

a mental equivalent

for what really is

instead of now.

My words,

by now

are of dried blood

from wounds that either healed

or bled out.