When did we begin to know?

The water flowing in our capillaries

Cycles throughout the diversity of life

Inhabiting this lonely tortured planet.

 

When did we begin to understand?

Those genes composing our resemblance,

In perpetually adapting fractal patterns,

Were passed from predecessors of primates.

 

What is science telling of our existence?

As studies of earth, ocean, sky, life and matter

Are unfolding mysteries of an ancient earth,

Revealing that each specie of life is named Rough draft.

 

How did we get here?

Flinging through the cold, dark, endless void of space,

Illuminated by points of light and spectral patterns,

Able to ponder the creation of all there is to know and love.

 

Why shouldn’t we venerate mythologies?

As we watch a dynamic & seemingly endless world

Transformed into a petrochemical paradise,

Serving hostility & poison to estranged billions.

 

Why do we venerate mythologies?

In a world where believing means becoming

Something much greater than our limited selves,

And yet for whom or to what end?

 

Where do we draw the line?

Between establishing truths we can depend on

And chasing visions we may never know,

Leading us onward into the ultimate mystery…

 

How do we know true prophets?

When corporate “profits” get placed higher on the altar

And treacherous propaganda continues to delude us

With crafted illusions of a lifetime guarantee.

 

What is the conscionable desire?

To want ‘true’ ‘inerrant’ ‘absolute’ authority

As though the end justifies any means

Of wickedness towards our fellow “hair-brains”.

 

How do we change?

As politicians and fear-mongers prey

On the collective actions of faithful people

Behind the facade of brand-name religion^®™©.

 

What does an all-powerful being do? 

When parents are shepherds of a stable family,

Governments are shepherds of a stable society,

And things don’t go according to plans.

 

Where is the compassion?

In a Grand Creator who ‘designs’ pain and suffering

And banishes wayward souls to eternal hell,

In the words of holy doctrine, articulated by man.

 

What holds human circles together?

The threat of villains & perception of heroes…

Or does a simple sense of purpose gather our kind?

In a world where there is no THEY, Just US!

 

In what manner do we live in society?

Where needs of the whole

Are balanced by needs of the self

And leaders are not trustworthy.

 

Where is the wisdom?

In stifling truths of our natural world,

Eternalizing delusions of an imposed order,

And Eclipsing free will with ethical reasoning.

 

Why is it so?

That love and compassion are limited,

When they could be extended further,

To all brethren beyond our blood-line.

 

Where do we go now?

Seeing our human family in the midst of wars and animosity,

Watching generations of children shaped by desperation,

Knowing how thoughts and actions effect what we become.

 

Is the well-being of humanity served?

By hegemony and religious nepotism,

As indoctrinating sectarian groups

Feign to be ordained as Captain of Space Dust.

 

What could a better world look like?

Wherein both art and science guide a manifest destiny,

Wherein pain and comfort are two sides of the same coin,

And wherein conceiving in beauty is becoming beauty.

 

Are we willing as people?

To strengthen our collective integrity, 

Aware of weakness in erratic fibers of animal nature,

And yet hand-spinning finer yarns inasmuch we know of love.

 

If the end of this world cycle arrives

Before acquisition of new cosmic real estate

What are the qualities

Which make our little trip worthwhile.

 

Can we survive?

As a mosaic of diverse cultures with untendered resources,

Capable of abstract reasoning, language and introspection,

Manifesting sapience in our namesake, Homo sapiens.

 

~  One of a cumulatively estimated 106 billion Homo sapiens born on earth.