“The divine is in us,”
begins the sage.
“Then the less I leave in you, the
more is in me,”
decrees a despot, and strikes him down.
“All religions are same,” continues
the sage.
“Yes! They are not-science,
not-science, not-science,”
chant the atheists, and strike him
down.
“All life is shared life,” whispers
the sage.
“If you want to upend the economy,”
snaps an investor, and strikes him
down.
“Do they not see?” cries the sage.
“Of course we do,”
barks a Nazi, and strikes him down.
“Not see? Nazi!—that was
clever,” laughs the sage.
“But offensive,”
writes a sociologist, and strikes him
down.
“These offenses we feel are only
tremors in a dream,” breathes the sage.
“I feel strapped to my own
shit, literally; that is no dream,”
cries an infant, and strikes him down.
“Shhh! Listen. Did he say
something!?” hush the students.
“,” pauses the sage with clear
eyes,
and strikes them awedly.
This is putting a mirror up to the many facets of humanity. Wow. It's fascinating to see how the evils of humanity are portrayed. Even as the sage tries to give advice, he is constantly put down. In many ways, this reminds me of any scholar trying to come forward with some new information but being beaten back at every step of the way. The last stanza really strikes a chord with me though, in how finally the students are willing to listen, but then the sage strikes them down. I'm not entirely sure if I'm interpreting this correctly though. Is it saying that as the students finally listen they are struck down with the knowledge they must take in? Or is it characterizing all of the people of the world as students and now that they finally decide to listen they are being taken apart?
ReplyDeleteTo be "struck with awe" is different than being struck down. I'm being playful with the words here, but also making a serious point - sometimes if you want someone to really think and reflect inwardly, the wisest thing you can say is ... silence, with a profound clarity in your eyes that no amount of adages and axioms can communicate: "I am at peace; are you?"
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