Life's Journey

We are so organised!

The Powers tell us where we may go:

Lines pre-ordained, responsive

They say to our own wants. Just so,

Purpose and direction we have

(Or think we have); and every norm

And value too, fixed comfortably

By average seats shaped for average form.

And for the rugged or so inclined

Beliefs to strap-hang from,

Swaying to every jolt of rushing mind.

We are so organised

But may indulge individual whims

And do: talk, twitch, study, stare

Like the glass eyes in a thousand cars.

Modest freedoms we have here and there,

A walk maybe to the door

But subject to the rule (our rule),

The engine’s urgency, societal mission,

Corporate plan and well tracked law.

We are so organised.

Roughly at least, our needs are met

En route, under the bright lights:

Food, security, company and more

No cause here for regret.

And if sufficiency does not suffice,

Plastic windows bring to mind

A somewhere else, not paradise

But gardens, fields, freedom and

Another world; save when

A nearer vision darkly intervenes –

Reflections of our own mortality.

So on and on we go,

Held in fee by our own attorney;

Ticketed to ride but not arrive,

No end but only a journey.