Discount the knowing wisdom

At what age do we learn
to see this oblong shape
as Circle
and forget to notice
that it is not perfectly round;
that its appearance is foreshortened,
That, as it's shown --
assuming it's a hole --
it never could accommodate
a piston, or a ball?
Is that the same age
at which we learn
to trust the inevitable distortions
conjured by our over-active minds?

Do you suppose that that's the age
when prejudice ensures
that we see only what we expect to see;
the age when we begin to discount
the knowing wisdom
of an open, unbounded heart?


* * *