The Help You Can Describe Won’t Help

In the time of Warring States,
Near the capital of Chu,
The teacher of Crown Prince Heng

Was entombed along with his
Library of wisdom texts
On hundreds of bamboo strips,

Including the Tao Te Ching.
Heng would become the last king
Of Chu, overrun by Qin.

Lot of good the Tao Te Ching
Did for the people of Chu.
That’s one thing about wisdom—

How can it not make a dent
In the pattern of the world,
The local society

From which its wisdom emerged,
The environment that made
It thinkable, possible?

The collective behaviors
Of cultures with the wisest
Practical philosophies

Were no less distraught than yours.
What did Athens accomplish
Thanks to the Academy?

Was the Ashokan empire
More tranquil for Buddhism?
Did Seneca end so well?

You can find them on the shelves,
Distilled, the best of the wise
From two or three thousand years

Of states that kept on warring
Except when empires ate them,
Aurelius in his tent.