Wives Tales and Molehills
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(“Under a Swirling Sky”, 2013, original pen and ink and acrylic)
Wives Tales and Molehills
We live in age of mediocrity
When the average
And even below average is celebrated.
Yet like in any age there is greatness,
And yet this greatness is disparaged as elite
And privileged and the product of systemic supremacy.
But much of what is disparaged is inherited wisdom,
Traditional knowledge and the legacy of
Technological innovation we all enjoy
Without understanding
Or increasingly, even appreciating.
Yet even in all this
Occasionally an individual rises above the rest
To lead by example and inspire as a beacon.
And inevitably their greatness is diminished
By everything from slander to assassination
With conspiracy theories whispered and spread
To bring them down
To the merely mortal, the common,
The tainted, just like us.
And in the end we get confused
About their greatness
Or even existence of greatness itself.
Maybe we fear the truly great are not like us
And so not able to guide and inspire
Those who are clearly less than.
Maybe we fear their obvious greatness
Just goes to show
All men are actually not equal
And so again not able to guide and inspire
Those of us who crave equality.
The result is the mediocrity
Of mountains made into molehills
Fueled by old wive’s tales
Of envy and deceit
Into a kind of New Age flat earth cosmology.
No one can be better and special of course
If we are all meant to be special,
Which is what our heart tells us must be true.
And if we are all special
Then no one is.
(9/13/25)
Copyright © James Moore | Year Posted 2025
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