The Formula

I understand, they say, I understand,

They have read books and studied human nature,

And they are sure experience was their teacher,

And tell you so and clasp you by the hand.

They are afraid. Some silence can be heard

Until a formula has barred it off.

I understand is the infallible stuff

To cancel every feared unspoken word.

They do not understand. For if they did

There would be two instead of one adrift.

To understand is to have shared the shrift,

To have won or lost with someone, side by side,

And all the understanding on the earth

Can never light a fire on a cold hearth.

Robert Finch

ANSWER

Hungry unnumbered since the birth of time

Question the dusty sky