Elijah, the elder, teaches others—
Or believes he does.
He huffs and chuffs in long sighs
As he prepares for them—the eyeless.
He mutters and nods his head

…………. at the Xeroxed papers spread before him.
Each Xerox sheet is a treasure,
And he spelunkles their dark caverns where ideas grow
…………. Using  a pickaxe
…………. To tear at the plumbeous walls.
He dusts the bottom of the black and white squiggles,
Where glistening gems reside beneath a silty bottom.

Elijah, the manufacturer of thoughts and observations
Wishes they could own them.
He designs precious stones
…………. for them to animate their minds.

His wide, broad brow,
Hair stacked mid-pate flimsily haloing his head,
Creases and crinkles as he is observed thinking.
Pointy finger dipping knowingly as an idea pours from it.
Crenellated skin too a testament to his profound thinking.
He wants others to testify to it.
“Eureka, Elijah found one!”
It validates him.

The teacher possesses an intellectual gravitas–
…………. until his wife tells him to take out the garbage
…………. or remove his discarded underwear from the bedroom floor.
Then he looks like a sorrowful boy discovered masturbating.

The twinkling gems then
…………. make a hollow sound
…………. …………. as they tinkle soundlessly to the floor