Challenging The Gods

A Poem

3080

I’m proud to the point of vanity for Man—

     for what we, humanity, have achieved.

“Pride goeth before destruction,” we are warned.

     So be it! “What a piece of work is Man.”

Or, in my words: Life’s a show, but just a start;

     our consciousness is off the chart.

True, we, the living, will soon fall away from the fray;

     that’s life’s way of making room for tomorrow’s us;

But, here and now, we are clear masters of our fate,

     and are moving goal posts, widening that fate,

And, perhaps, provoking the ire of the gods of reality.

     And, soon enough, I am confident that we will

Answer all questions for which there are answers.

     What, when…and, then?

I believe that by some tomorrow science and medical

     research will make us immortal…or nearly so.

And I expect future generations to be AI…

     or an amalgam of us and Artificial Intelligence.

I suspect that we will rename and redefine God—

     again—but that we will not give her up.

And, then, after those triumphs, I think that we will

     fret and fume that life is not worth the bother.

But, if it all comes to naught, tomorrow; if we

     catastrophically fail our conquest of reality;

If Man consumes himself and all our work…still,

     we did our duty by challenging the gods!

A Hill resident, the author believes that the appreciation of art should not be influenced by the vagaries or prejudices of biography.