Towards the Design of a Better "The"

The meaning you chase
is attached to a string.

Follow it if you must
as it pulls away along the street.

Watch out for the alley,
a philosophical dead end

where religion, science
and language collide.

with the weighted force
of misgivings and doubt,

leaving some sucker out cold,
and someone else with a wallet

which may not satisfy,
but will purchase sufficient distraction

until thought once more intrudes
into the humdrum of tooth and claw.