Wayside Aside

When reality is taken for granted,
The events themselves are immaterial.
Quiet Coleridge. Among the things revealed

By the many versions of this reasoning—
The spirit being greater than the letter,
The higher truth transcendent over mere facts—

None of them are actually a higher truth.
The things revealed are all the ways any truth
Remains dependent on its shifting context

For the feel of truth. It’s not higher, deeper
But different, with different qualities,
Different domains, and different meanings.

Shakespeare’s anachronisms are not a part
Of higher truths about British history,
Nor about the essence of the human heart.

They are facts about Shakespeare’s plays that differ
From historical facts in other sources.
Facts are not jigsaw pieces. They’re gravel heaps.