SAGE and SCIENTIST and SOLDIER



I
Man on the mountain,
look down and see
all the shadows cast
by the sun.

Ravines and stones
shared their love for you
and sheltered you against
angry winds.

Lies about the rain
falling on our heads –
reality can change
into what you want.

Man on the mountain,
look down and see
everything old and new
you’ve created.

The earth shakes underfoot –
up’s turned into down.
rock shatters, water endures –
all of it fades.

Man under the mountain,
can you hear me?
I can tell you why this
happened to your world.

II
Don’t blame it on the gods,
dictating existence.
Don’t blame it on yourselves,
drowning in your hubris.

Reasons you can’t see
are as real as the air.
The earth is not angry –
just itself.

Man under the mountain,
climb your ruined life.
leave the rubble behind
and hope for change.

Earthworm at the top,
don’t get too comfortable –
the man on the mountain
will soon exist again.

Rock shifts to make room
for those who have the will.
It might be right or wrong –
but rocks still part.

Man climbing the mountain,
afraid of what you don’t know –
keep that fear alive for
it’s a drive to understand.

III
Thinker on a cold throne –
you are not the jury.
You judge the world based on
nothing but a whim.

The world does not obey your
laws and theories and rules –
there’s more to life than causes
and effects you see.

Yesterday was ruled by
superstitious forces.
The present time is ruled by
rules that ring the same.

Thinker on a cold throne –
you are just the hunter
and gatherer of prey and
harvests you can’t see.

Tomorrow will be ruled by
laws you try to impose
on the world just the same
with words slightly different.

Thinker on a cold throne,
think on what to do for
everyone below you –
not what lies above.

IV
Lies told to the truth and
presented like facts
can be revealed to be
fantasies.

Just look to the gospel
and the dissertation –
it’s all about the same thing –
dictating the world.

Thinker on a cold throne,
crown yourself with changes
before a silver tomb comes
and embraces you.

Thinker with a true crown,
wisdom is the state of
your new certainty for
you know that you don’t know.

Knowing nothing is how
knowing more comes to be.
Knowing; thinking; dreaming
are states of being

Thinker in a field of
possibilities,
pick a flower and watch it
live forever.

V
Soldier with a sharp sword,
carry out your task.
make lives into energy
for something new.

Bloodstains fade to nothing –
grass grows green again.
swords shine silver and
skin scabs over.

Death is not a state of
existing at all.
it is just a border
we cannot see past.

Soldier with a sharp sword,
the blood on its blade will fade.
Consequences are fleeting –
for all but he who died.

But death is just a lie told
by scientists and priests.
Death is just a change from
one state to another.

Soldier with a toy sword,
the world does not care that
energy moved somewhere new,
for it cannot be destroyed.

VI
War and peace are seen as
polar opposites.
But destruction and stasis
cannot be light and dark.

Positive and negative
and neutrons in the midst –
war and creation with
peace resting between.

Soldier with a toy sword,
know you can still be wrong
though life and death are the same –
joy and pain are not.

Soldier with a scalpel,
it’s good to see the red shed
by your careful hand done
to heal and not to harm.

But the beds are crowded
with screaming, wounded men.
in life they find agony –
in death they’d find release.

Soldier with a scalpel
who can’t tell right from wrong,
the answers won’t be given when
the questions are so strong.