There was a time.
There was a time when we ran free,
To pit our wits
And use our ingenuity;
Free of man-made laws,
Of household chores and social mores –
A child in the wild.
Exultant on the trails of beasts,
Imagining the feasts,
Full of the adrenalin of the hunt,
The brotherhood and trust
Unfettered –
With unbridled lust.
Free in the elements –
Every breeze is tasted,
All nuance noted,
Every caress relished,
Every flavour promoted.
Overpowered by the desire for comfort
Security and ease.
The love of many children
Has brought us to our knees.
With seven billion progeny
We are no longer roaming free.
The breeze is tainted –
Each caress a travesty.
Secure in our comfort
We’ve lost our sanity.
Opher 31.12.2015
There was a time
Locked within our cities far away from the natural world we live a life of safety and synthetic joy. Our whims catered for, our dreams indulged, we are saturated in control.
Our actions are restrained.
Yet how could it be otherwise?
There are now seven billion of us. We have swamped the world like an acidic bacterial scum that erodes all it touches. Trees fall, nature flees, and animals are consumed. Behind us the machine consumes the natural, digests it and churns out the residue to create the plastic comfort and ease we live amidst.
Yet no more do we taste the free air and live as brightly. This is the age of health and safety, longevity, and false fulfilment.
This is the plastic, sterile bowels of existence.
Part of me always hankers to run free, without limits, and live naturally off the land. I know it would be a hard life of extremes, of pain, of risk, discomfort and early death. Yet that would be so fulfilling.
This life does not seem real.