The Scent of Musk

(“The Mothership”, 2024, photo collage of original encaustics) The Scent of Musk What the world needs now Is love sweet love, No, not just for some…. And so it has always been. This is our heart’s desire and birthright, Yet the dream just slips away Held for but an instant Or reached for in vain. Thus we learned to cooperate Form bonds and institutions With friends and foe alike To hold that dream a little longer. But despite what we need The world today is hellbent on hate, And what is there left to stop This rising tide of jihad by any other name? Judaism and Christianity have proven themselves Unable to contain Abdullah, their not so little cousin, While Hindu and Buddhist long ago learned They couldn’t stop his Western hordes. So we need a new religion To subdue the old, replacing tired ideals With something bright and shiny, cosmic In both physical and metaphorical senses. What we need is a revelation, Not revolution, for the new millennium, Something that unites us all With awe inspiring wonder and sobriety. A trinity of revelations from the stars; Elohim with his unborn Light, Gabriel in his chariot of fire And then bear hug for Muhammad. But this time from the ground up Uniting inner and outer space; Restless natives and desperate aliens All searching for their promised land. Lifting all like boats on the tide Or a rocket to Mars Returning as it rose To launch again, and again. This is what the world needs now A unity of vision and technology And one man’s prosperity To make it all real. Surely I jest you say, And yes, but in serious earnest My mind infused with the scent of Musk Blowing on a wind of change… (5/17/25)