Unemployed In Green Land
© Surazeus
2018 03 22
Standing still on the corner of the street,
and holding leather briefcase in left hand,
Michael watches busy people walk fast
with far-away looks in their staring eyes,
and he watches cars and trucks speeding past
as their engines emit vibrating roar,
and the giant ball of fire in the sky
illuminates glass towers and asphalt streets
with stark intense light of pulsating heat.
"Though I worked as an accountant for banks
for twenty years, processing new home loans,
today I am unemployed in Green Land.
How strange it seems that I once raced along
with intently focused activity
of ten thousand people in this huge city,
determined to play vital role
as one tiny cog playing my secure part
in this grinding economic machine
to earn enough money so I can eat.
Now that I have been fired from my bank job,
extracted from my part in the machine,
I stand still and useless on the bright street
like the gear cast aside on factory floor,
no longer turning on schedule of time,
motionless amid the motion of business.
I stand on still point of the turning world,
as if I were the axle of the wheel,
but the axle is central to its motion,
and I was never core to the machine,
so now I am the axle and not the gear?
I think the mayor who must run this city
functions as the axle connecting wheels,
though maybe he must be the steering wheel,
but are we humans parts of some machine,
mindless robots performing functions well
in communal societies of action?
As office worker in large company,
I was but one part of some giant whole,
yet we humans are autonomous persons,
complete individuals in ourselves,
so now that I am separate from the whole
I can move on my own independent track
and devise private reasons to exist.
I always helped people get loans to buy
new homes where they can care for families,
but now I feel useless without my job.
What function that contributes to success
of my personal growth with stable income
do I want to perform in game of life
that fulfills my sense of purposeful worth,
rather than what society demands?
How foolish I sound, searching for my purpose,
like those self-help gurus who earn their living
spouting bromides at flashy seminars
that fool morons into giving them cash
in return for phony steps to success.
Yet why should I apply my energy
to perform any good function at all
that maintains engine of society
which milks our labor for the billionaires,
choosing instead to sit on the street corner
or under shady tree in city park
and do nothing with my hands or my mind?
The only result is that I would starve
and my body dissolve back into dust
when I refuse to perform any part
in the ruthless economic machine
that produces food to feed everybody
who chooses to cooperate for pay,
for anybody can play my small part.
Like Buddha I can sell all my possessions
and meditate under the fruitful tree
far from the business zone of cityscapes,
and listen to the river sing all day,
except that I will feel bored in one hour.
My mind spins active as the cranking piston
that twirls the axle so it turns the wheels
which motivates me to perform my role,
zooming along the highway of production.
Each person plays their role along the way
of transforming minerals of the Earth
into food or machines that aid our lives,
so though I want to leave Great Babylon
and meditate like Ezekiel by the river,
yet I want to eat, sleep safe, and watch movies,
so I must participate in society.
I would go mad sitting alone all day,
my mind inventing movies I would watch,
so I must work to live safe and eat well.
Although I will need to sit by the river
for one week to balance my energized mind,
yet I will return to play the money game
after I regain stoic calm of purpose."
Walking from the city over the bridge,
Michael sits meditating by the river,
dreaming the history of the universe
from First Flash of Light to the Flaring Forth
when life evolved from the sea of the world,
then returns and searches for a new job.
© Surazeus
2018 03 22
Standing still on the corner of the street,
and holding leather briefcase in left hand,
Michael watches busy people walk fast
with far-away looks in their staring eyes,
and he watches cars and trucks speeding past
as their engines emit vibrating roar,
and the giant ball of fire in the sky
illuminates glass towers and asphalt streets
with stark intense light of pulsating heat.
"Though I worked as an accountant for banks
for twenty years, processing new home loans,
today I am unemployed in Green Land.
How strange it seems that I once raced along
with intently focused activity
of ten thousand people in this huge city,
determined to play vital role
as one tiny cog playing my secure part
in this grinding economic machine
to earn enough money so I can eat.
Now that I have been fired from my bank job,
extracted from my part in the machine,
I stand still and useless on the bright street
like the gear cast aside on factory floor,
no longer turning on schedule of time,
motionless amid the motion of business.
I stand on still point of the turning world,
as if I were the axle of the wheel,
but the axle is central to its motion,
and I was never core to the machine,
so now I am the axle and not the gear?
I think the mayor who must run this city
functions as the axle connecting wheels,
though maybe he must be the steering wheel,
but are we humans parts of some machine,
mindless robots performing functions well
in communal societies of action?
As office worker in large company,
I was but one part of some giant whole,
yet we humans are autonomous persons,
complete individuals in ourselves,
so now that I am separate from the whole
I can move on my own independent track
and devise private reasons to exist.
I always helped people get loans to buy
new homes where they can care for families,
but now I feel useless without my job.
What function that contributes to success
of my personal growth with stable income
do I want to perform in game of life
that fulfills my sense of purposeful worth,
rather than what society demands?
How foolish I sound, searching for my purpose,
like those self-help gurus who earn their living
spouting bromides at flashy seminars
that fool morons into giving them cash
in return for phony steps to success.
Yet why should I apply my energy
to perform any good function at all
that maintains engine of society
which milks our labor for the billionaires,
choosing instead to sit on the street corner
or under shady tree in city park
and do nothing with my hands or my mind?
The only result is that I would starve
and my body dissolve back into dust
when I refuse to perform any part
in the ruthless economic machine
that produces food to feed everybody
who chooses to cooperate for pay,
for anybody can play my small part.
Like Buddha I can sell all my possessions
and meditate under the fruitful tree
far from the business zone of cityscapes,
and listen to the river sing all day,
except that I will feel bored in one hour.
My mind spins active as the cranking piston
that twirls the axle so it turns the wheels
which motivates me to perform my role,
zooming along the highway of production.
Each person plays their role along the way
of transforming minerals of the Earth
into food or machines that aid our lives,
so though I want to leave Great Babylon
and meditate like Ezekiel by the river,
yet I want to eat, sleep safe, and watch movies,
so I must participate in society.
I would go mad sitting alone all day,
my mind inventing movies I would watch,
so I must work to live safe and eat well.
Although I will need to sit by the river
for one week to balance my energized mind,
yet I will return to play the money game
after I regain stoic calm of purpose."
Walking from the city over the bridge,
Michael sits meditating by the river,
dreaming the history of the universe
from First Flash of Light to the Flaring Forth
when life evolved from the sea of the world,
then returns and searches for a new job.
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