In the Rearview
Voyage of the Ancient Mariner...Part IIPerched on the bow of the ship,
In his usual manner, at the usual time,
The Fool began his…uhmmm…sermon…
Let us start this voyage with questions…
Who am I? Who are you?
A human being? What does that mean?
What is this place? A universe of time and space?
Why are we here on this world called Earth?
Could be, endless experience for me...
And for you, and the trees and bees, dogs and fleas…
Countless ways to see…to dream…to sing…
We each have our own thing.
Then there is the experience we share…again in countless ways...
Innumerable worlds upon worlds upon worlds
Our lives collage together on the Master’s loom
An orgiastic array of form and feeling
Adrift in time playing cosmic charades
Living-laughing, dying, crying...loving…
And then the Fool interrupted himself…
Is that a life raft coming our way?
What’s that they say?
Escaping from a sinking ship it seems.
Why...we did the same.
Welcome aboard drifter,
Hear the rules of this ship.
If you want to stay,
This is how we play.
This is a vessel of artists…performers and dreamers…
Creators of worlds one and all,
Goddesses and Gods gathered to share
Pleasures and passions and playful, peaceful pursuits…
Have no fear drifter, you board an unsinkable ship,
For its hull is the ocean itself,
And its wayfaring crew, they are that ocean too,
We just don these players masks to suit our favorite roles,
As our ship sails...filled with Olympian winds.
Never mind if you don’t quite get my drift, drifter.
If you see me turned around and upside down,
For my role as ship’s cartographer and clown
Sometimes demands I stand on my head,
In order to rouse the dead.
And the Fool continued from behind his mask…
Tired refuge’, I once stood where you now stand,
Myself seeking escape from a sinking ship,
Led by a captain who said,
"It’s survival of the most fit!
Grab whatever you can, it’s every man for himself!"
"What do you mean by fit?" I asked the captain.
"Big and strong…the predator wins the day...is that what you say?
A heartless quest for gold...is that the game you play?"
Then I pointed around at the waste of this soulless pursuit
The waste of energy, the waste of time, the waste of life,
All turned to shit...
And I said to the captain,
"Is this what you mean by fit?!"
And the captain just smirked at me,
I don’t think he understood a word I said,
And my contention just made me a troublemaker and mutineer...
In his eyes a threat...
And I knew what that meant...
So I climbed to the top of the mast,
And said to the crew,
"I see a Golden Land ahead, governed by one Golden Rule,
One basic Truth, One basic Right, One basic Freedom,
Each of us is entitled to…"
But then the captain shouted,
"Arm yourselves men, that man is a liar and traitor…
And he shall walk the plank!"
So I shouted back…
"Don’t trouble yourselves boys...
I’m taking a high dive from where I stand...
And I’ll swim from here,
To that Golden Land!
Prologue
Click below to read
Voyage of the Ancient Mariner Part I
