What Is To Be Done
Apparently, gas we burn has burned
away some other air that cools the planet
enough that floods and deserts will ruin
the world we know. Whew! Too deep
for us, professor. We’re sweeping flat hands
across the tops of our heads, and winking
anus-lipped grimaces at eggheads.
What the hell are we superfluous ones
supposed to do? Give away extra shirts
and food, so Luke says that John advises
in the Good Book that promises life
eternal if we believe in believing in it.
And we do, don’t we? We give Toys
for Tots, roar our Harleys in stampedes
across the land against the cancer,
and drive our cloth bags to supermarkets
in electric cars—each mind minding
its own transactions as Socrates
defined Good-doing for an ideal state.
Nor should we lose faith in the wisdom
of our gadget-investing billionaires
to figure out even cleverer gizmos
that will solve Malthusian misery—e.g.,
seventy million homeless tented
against our walls—for if they saw no future
they wouldn’t be freezing their corpses
or building space ships. Perhaps God
created universal laws, called it all
Good, and then left the building
for us to tend our own gardens
as we’ve seen see fit, in which case
He’ll have some answering to do
in a court of law.
away some other air that cools the planet
enough that floods and deserts will ruin
the world we know. Whew! Too deep
for us, professor. We’re sweeping flat hands
across the tops of our heads, and winking
anus-lipped grimaces at eggheads.
What the hell are we superfluous ones
supposed to do? Give away extra shirts
and food, so Luke says that John advises
in the Good Book that promises life
eternal if we believe in believing in it.
And we do, don’t we? We give Toys
for Tots, roar our Harleys in stampedes
across the land against the cancer,
and drive our cloth bags to supermarkets
in electric cars—each mind minding
its own transactions as Socrates
defined Good-doing for an ideal state.
Nor should we lose faith in the wisdom
of our gadget-investing billionaires
to figure out even cleverer gizmos
that will solve Malthusian misery—e.g.,
seventy million homeless tented
against our walls—for if they saw no future
they wouldn’t be freezing their corpses
or building space ships. Perhaps God
created universal laws, called it all
Good, and then left the building
for us to tend our own gardens
as we’ve seen see fit, in which case
He’ll have some answering to do
in a court of law.
