("Outside Looking In Merit Badge", 2011, original oil)
Ego is a natural thing for conscious beings;
The sense of self that comes
From simply being conscious.
And being natural
It’s a healthy and desirable thing.
But everything in nature is also subject
To disease and corruption.
Sometimes the challenge of disease and corruption
Makes us stronger and better
Sometimes it makes us weak and broken
Beyond repair.
Egocentricity is extreme focus of the ego
On the ego;
A turning in and away
To protect a fragile self
Which in the wisdom of its insecurity
Knows deep down
All its ways are transparent
And all its days numbered.
One day it will wakeup free of itself
And in that release
Be free of everything and everyone
It has known and loved.
And then, it will rise
And take the challenge of consciousness again.
(6/1/26)
Eke out, O my living?
On what grounds do ye speak?
Based on our thanksgiving?
O turkey, through creek creak!
Wind atop the atoll low?
Steady, then first blow.
Ogre, ochre. Fast or slow?
Gold, give off thy glow...
Tyrant of the ocean deep;
Through dark chasm leap?
Horror, do ye find life cheap?
Challengers to creep...
Thought-light, gloss over the spark?
Fire, light up the dark?
Covenant? Communion, ark?
Hone, upon the bark...
Fill in, O ravine? Unseen.
Trail lead through the green.
Emptiness, fill each machine?
Will it work, I deen...?
Dismay, spring from dynamite?
Nuclear, gone white?
Pinholes, curtains, nine knives, night!
Rampage on the right!
Queen of civilized world, wait?
Hie across the strait!
O for those who prattle, prate!
Rage at higher rate!
Barbarians, gather?
Oppose such as this?
Well, we wouldn't rather.
Sail on, black abyss...
Pecco, Ergo Sum
(I sin, therefore I am)
Not an aimless ride on Sunday morning,
But for a faith oblige I am tied to attend
“Sinners!” the priest thunders from pulpit,
“Repent, for your flesh betrays the soul!”
Verses cascade from the book of the wise,
Urging forgiveness to claim a seat
In a kingdom beyond the grave’s cold embrace.
I turn to the Creator, my maker divine,
Why craft flawed vessels, etched with fault?
Why carve weakness into our fragile clay,
Then wield fear to mend what You designed?
Could life not flow smoothly by Your Will alone?
Or is sin the pulse of existence itself.
Pecco, ergo sum?
Brief is our span, stumbling through shadows,
Misery and pain, heirs of an ancient wrong.
A scar of defiance haunts us still,
A faith forged in the fires of an old sin.
Fear, raw and unyielding, bids us believe
In redemption earned through sacred blood—
Yet suffering, sickness, poverty linger on,
We fall,wake up and sin again as if by default
Did creation compromise our existence
Making the essence of life not so divine
Did Your creation flaw our essence,
dimming life’s divine spark?
Where did dogma falter,
Rewriting life —Pecco, ergo sum?
Pecco, Ergo Sum
(I sin, therefore I am)
Not an aimless ride on Sunday morning,
But for a faith oblige I am tied to attend
“Sinners!” the priest thunders from pulpit,
“Repent, for your flesh betrays the soul!”
Verses cascade from the book of the wise,
Urging forgiveness to claim a seat
In a kingdom beyond the grave’s cold embrace.
I turn to the Creator, my maker divine,
Why craft flawed vessels, etched with fault?
Why carve weakness into our fragile clay,
Then wield fear to mend what You designed?
Could life not flow smoothly by Your Will alone?
Or is sin the pulse of existence itself.
Pecco, ergo sum?
Brief is our span, stumbling through shadows,
Misery and pain, heirs of an ancient wrong.
A scar of defiance haunts us still,
A faith forged in the fires of an old sin.
Fear, raw and unyielding, bids us believe
In redemption earned through sacred blood—
Yet suffering, sickness, poverty linger on,
We fall,wake up and sin again as if by default
Did creation compromise our existence
Making the essence of life not so divine
Did Your creation flaw our essence,
dimming life’s divine spark?
Where did dogma falter,
Rewriting life —Pecco, ergo sum?
Human insistancy fuelled by myriad inconsistancys
Unreason of ages' result much hate and destruction
Through innumerable fervid and insane stages.'
COGITO ERGO SUM
I think, therefore I am
Cogito Ergo Sum
As in Latin it’s said
But I’m not a linguist
My headache feels like lead
I think, therefore I am
And my brain tells me so
Am I defined by thought
My neurons are firing
But may still come to naught
I think, therefore I am
So said Rene Descartes
It’s his first principle
Mankind realises
And is invincible
I think, therefore I am
Basics of existence
This is fundamental
But a French perspective
He was continental
I scribble because I exist
I exist because I write
I survive in my yearnings
I have my fears
I have my brakes
but without much thinking
I buy myself many things.
I accumulate many .debts...
Out of fear I tell myself some things
to rationalize and apologize...
I buy, I consume...
Soon I exist...!
Cogito ergo sum ! !
Though
Not Everyone
Who's Alone
Is lonely.
Ergo
Not Everyone
Who's lonely
is Alone.
Slap to start, gasp your first
Hope for best, fear the worst
Lungs inflate, blood runs hot
Limbs lash out, suckling sought
Crawl and stand, toddle then run
Thinking thoughts, just begun
Brain brights up, play and school
Seem so smart, then a fool
Look for love, meet and mate
Fortune shines, find your fate
Work a job, raise a child
Life leads on, years are piled
What goes up, must come down
Heart beat slows, sorrows drown
Gasp your last, then you die
Dig you deep, loved ones cry
Ash to ash, dust to dust
What’s the point?! Just…we must…
January 10, 2022
I'm not notable reader of the rich Latin language,
That treasures within its realm mountainous barns of knowledge…
Thoughts and philosophies, like symphony, around-the-clock,
To this ocean, like sea animals, for full refuge, flock...
Of all, like sediments, one who has settled in my mind,
And floats to the surface, like unfettered feather inter-twined;
Is Rene Descartes – French, who’d taught - cogito, ergo sum,
That altered my concepts, to rationalism, to succumb...
I think, therefore I exist; no existence otherwise?
Is this very concept, yet, as highest as the great skies?
Accessible knowledge; test of best methodical doubt,
Doubting the very existence; whether it's flood or drought...
Fond rebuilding; single-lined philosophy; so modern!
When I teach it to my students they seem problem-ridden;
To me, yet, this phrase and philosophy are august fun,
Like irrational thought battles lost early, are now won...
10 January 2022
Latin Lessons Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Margarita Lillico
We Think Therefore We are
Does it matter anymore?
I believed being born and living was something special.
I was wrong…..
Is this what my whole existence is going to be like?
To grow old,
Doing nothing important…..
…..until I am dead.
Is that all there is?
“Destiny” implies
a controlling external force -
the random positioning of planets in solar orbit,
or the mysterious machinations of a spurious spirit in the sky -
both impressively improbable and laughably unlikely.
Occam’s razor slashes!
And free will is the last rational refuge standing...
September 14, 2020
swift bird of prey soars
moment of truth elusive—
true nature concealed
***
1/18/2020
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