Redwood
Poetry

Bliss


Daisy Paris-Kaufman

December 2019
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“Ignorance Is Bliss”
That’s what they always told me
Whenever I asked questions

I never learned who “they” were
Maybe it was my parents
Maybe it wasn’t

“Ignorance Is Bliss,” they’d say
And you are so.
So Blissful

But I was never content
I didn’t know anything
And that certainly wasn’t Bliss

They would hide from me the most meaningful things
The most important things
Because Ignorance Is Bliss

They told me I should be happy
That they wanted me to be happy
So they could keep everything from me

They’d hide small things from me
“Where are we going”
“You don’t need to know”

But mostly it was big things
“Who are those people, why are they fighting”
“You don’t need to know”

When I eventually figured out
What they were doing
And why they were doing it

I told them I knew (I finally knew something)
And they denied it
“All we want is for you to be happy”

When I asked why they never answered me
They wouldn’t say
Because Ignorance Is Bliss

So when I ran away
I did everything I could
Learned everything I could

I read
And watched
Anything I found

And I learned the truth
That Knowledge Is Bliss.
And I will never stop Knowing
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