A Griot's Prospectus

I was born like any man And look how different we use the day To toll our lives against the sand Through hour glass running away In sterile classrooms fettered to pride I wasted my years to hear men say There goes a scholar open the gate wide Only to learn it's not that way There are boundaries invisible And rules indelible And ancient nonesense without decay My mother lived without degrees And I more than her is miserable Not contented to dissect the bees On wages unliveable Where would I be without praying knees For I too shall die like any man A mere phantom on the mind's rough seas No different than when our life began.