Page 16

By Jack Joseph Smith

Quest I did not have far to go until I got there And it did not appear there was a thought left to have It had been quiet at first, but the crowd roared as I got near Christ changed through the three crosses,, and the thumb in my heart; I knew even thunder could overhear Desolute as your time at a crossroads Every map and known thing in my head, became a guess Nothing on purpose would ever be done again For there was nothing to listen to, that I had not fallen from The knack for survival gives every animal and insect the truth On the backs of his sea of humanity And old man raises his glass, To the sorrow he has crossed

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

Nearing Christ and the three crosses dissolves map, purpose, and certainty until survival itself becomes the only remaining truth.

The quest becomes an arrival into disorientation: maps become guesses, purpose disappears, and survival is recast as animal truth. The handwritten closing image of an old man raising a glass to crossed sorrow gives the page a ritual ending.

Claude

'Quest' arrives almost before it begins - 'I did not have far to go until I got there' - into a crowd that 'roared as I got near' and a vision of 'Christ changed through the three crosses,, / and the thumb in my heart.' At this crossroads orientation fails: 'Every map and known thing in my head, // became a guess,' and 'Nothing on purpose would ever be done again.' What remains is animal: 'The knack for survival gives / every animal and insect the truth.' The handwritten close lands the page as ritual, 'And old man raises his glass, To the sorrow he has / crossed' - sorrow itself the thing forded. Source spelling 'Desolute' is preserved.