Parroting

Eyes that see the letters and photograph each symbol
then paste them in the memory’s album as mementos,
they are the lines of facts carefully preserved,
accumulated and accessible for being repeated
like a rehearsed speech that reflects what another
thought, felt, lived, tasted, breathed and died about.

When enough sentences have been collected,
enough tests passed to prove you learn to recite them,
suddenly you are a parrot with pieces of paper
to hang on the wall that say I have a degree.

But even without the parchment or grades,
the mind who takes those details
and stirs them like a stew in a mental pot,
is the one to truly digests and consumes
each aspect and flavor they have to offer.

It is the brain gourmet who needs more
than a snack of data to honestly be happy,
can’t live and feel alive inside
unless knowing the intimate facets
of each information morsel being served.

For that is the one who truly
discovers the truth in the artificial
so it is real and full of genuine meaning
instead of just something you had to swallow.