"Sea of Faith" by John Brehm (1999)

Once when I was teaching "Dover Beach"to a class of freshmen, a young womanraised her hand and said, "I'm confusedabout this 'Sea of Faith.'" "Well," I said,"let's talk about it. We probably needto talk a bit about figurative language.What confuses you about it?""I mean, is it a real sea?" she asked."You mean, is it a real body of waterthat you could point to on a mapor visit on a vacation?""Yes," she said. "Is it a real sea?"Oh Christ, I thought, is this where we are?Next year I'll be teaching them the alphabetand how to sound words out.I'll have to teach them geography, apparently,before we can move on to poetry.I'll have to teach them history, too-a few weeks on the Dark Ages might be instructive."Yes," I wanted to say, "it is.It is a real sea. In fact it flowsright into the Sea of IgnoranceIN WHICH YOU ARE DROWNINGLet me throw you a Rope of Salvationbefore the Sharks of Desire gobble you up.Let me hoist you back up onto this Ship of Foolsso that we might continue our searchfor the Fountain of Youth. Here, take a drinkof this. It's fresh from the River of Forgetfulness."But of course I didn't say any of that.I tried to explain in such a wayas to protect her from humiliation,tried to explain that poetsoften speak of things that don't exist.It was only much later that I wishedI could have answered differently,only after I'd betrayed myselfand been betrayed that I wishedit was true, wished there really was a Sea of Faiththat you could wade out into,dive under its blue and magic waters,hold your breath, swim like a fishdown to the bottom, and then emerge againable to believe in everything, faithfuland unafraid to ask even the simplest of questions,happy to have them simply answered.