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By Jack Joseph Smith

The Way of the World It could be The Stone Across the Water It could be The Stone upon The Sand I am not a warrior, I have only seen it, wandered through it I hate the warrior; love the warrior Something unknown Is ment by it Whatever is said without reasn explained Always Someplace Is a lie Either side See the trap, No, just to sink Either or Just thinking [struck: that] way We too will die Whichever want or way is true It is important We must not think less of ourselves, or them Not before at or during the end

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The page meditates on the way of the world through stones, water, warriors, lies, traps, thinking, death, and the command not to think less of ourselves or them.

The handwritten insertions turn the typed poem into an argument with itself. Repeated possibilities, warnings about traps, and the late addition of or them widen the poem from private thought into an ethical demand.

Claude

Titled 'The Way of the World,' the poem suspends judgment between the stone 'Across the / Water' and the stone 'upon / The Sand,' confessing 'I hate the warrior; love the warrior.' What is said 'without reasn explained / Always Someplace / Is a lie,' yet the close insists on dignity: 'We must not think less of ourselves, or them / Not before at or during the end.'