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Looking for the Perfect Present

In a bookstore, searching
for a gift, the book that will never be forgotten—
but everything can be forgotten.
In a forest, therefore,
looking for the confusion
that opens a path—
but as usual the confusions are familiar.
Sit still, sit still,
the path has found you,
the book is in your hands.
And what you long for, the ceremony of ceremonies,
is taking place.
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Glenn Hughes (1951-2024) was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at St. Mary’s University in Texas. He was author of numerous books, most recently From Dickinson to Dylan: Visions of Transcendence in Modernist Literature (Missouri, 2020). He was also co-editor, with Charles R. Embry, of The Eric Voegelin Reader: Politics, History, Consciousness (Missouri, 2017).

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