all the senses absorb an ersatz spring,
  fending off knowledge
   baked hard into partial truths--
 mere cover for crooks and imbeciles . . .
  but the unnamable thrill
   of a new discovery thrusts forward
 on another January Sunday--
  tied to the last thread of home,
    a slim and fragile chance
  to take another step--
   no room for error or doubt
 in such a narrow margin . . .