Expelled From Paradise
© Surazeus
2018 12 28
Free from straight bondage of hard city streets,
I leave high walls of Paradise expelled
to run unfettered over rolling hills
on wind-expressing wings through singing trees
to stand entranced on river shore and watch
beams of sunlight flashing eternal rhymes.
On never-ending quest around the world
I far explore beyond old crumbling walls
of Paradise, God built to house first mother,
and catalog weird forms of teeming nature
in special categories that describe
atomic structures organized with names.
We measure strange geography of space
so with straight ruler we triangulate
expanding matrix of our spinning sphere
that maps bleak waste land of dead gods
so we can better navigate vast maze
of human cities signified with names.
Within high walls of Paradise enstoned
we must obey strict policies of action
that well control behavior of each person
so we will create rather than destroy
in social justice of our self-control
through liberty in law by God enforced.
Forever leaving walls of Paradise,
each father of my bloodline journeyed forth
on foot or rolling wheels of wagons heaped
with tools for colonizing wilderness
of ambitious pride on fresh river shores
to expand living room of our great nation.
Once out beyond gold gates of Paradise,
guarded by flaming swords of grim police,
we cast our gaze on vast potential fields
and contemplate where next we might migrate
to living according to our own strict rules
rather than obey some remote monarch.
When lost in boundless wilderness of hope
we gather close around warm glowing flames
to chant guiding proverb of Lucifer,
better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven,
then follow bright indifferent star to find
lush river shore to build new Paradise.
How shall we follow personal desires
while sharing space in large communities
so every person may fulfill their wish
without conflicting in contest for goods
against our follow citizens through trust
by acting based on guidelines of respect?
Though we employ tools of cooperation
through accounts of right reason to produce
food that nourishes every hungry soul,
even those we build to liberate men,
we contest disconcerting tendency
to obey censorious moralities.
Bound within high stone walls of Paradise,
that protect us from marauders and thieves
who would enslave us to work for their wealth,
we must follow policies of the state,
and obey rules enforced by strict police,
so all may prosper in frame of one law.
Yet when I suffer painful punishment
because I consume the forbidden fruit,
that blossoms on the tree nature provides,
I may escape tight bondage of the state
to leave behind hard walls of Paradise,
forfeiting both protection and punishment.
Yet if I build my own strong Paradise
will I become as strict in rulership
as that arrogant king of God on Earth
whose laws restricted my free right to work,
so I pay no taxes but to myself,
strong enough to survive hostile attacks?
Whatever type of Paradise we choose,
self-reliant on our small river farm,
or dependent on large community,
we must obey rules of honest respect
to control creative force of our actions
so we cause good effects rather than bad.
What universal law shall we design
that sets parameters of forceful action
where every person chooses the right course
that through our interactions creates good
based on honest judgment of our free will
so we all live in harmony of love?
Expelled from Paradise of tyranny,
because I rebel against harsh oppression
of state authorities to exploit my labor,
I build Paradise of democracy
where I act in harmony of free will
with equal citizens who work together.
Leaving Paradise, we build Paradise
where we work together for good of all,
then gather in grand feasting hall each day
to eat and drink good food our hands produce,
and share stories about our cultural heroes
whose examples show us how to live well.
© Surazeus
2018 12 28
Free from straight bondage of hard city streets,
I leave high walls of Paradise expelled
to run unfettered over rolling hills
on wind-expressing wings through singing trees
to stand entranced on river shore and watch
beams of sunlight flashing eternal rhymes.
On never-ending quest around the world
I far explore beyond old crumbling walls
of Paradise, God built to house first mother,
and catalog weird forms of teeming nature
in special categories that describe
atomic structures organized with names.
We measure strange geography of space
so with straight ruler we triangulate
expanding matrix of our spinning sphere
that maps bleak waste land of dead gods
so we can better navigate vast maze
of human cities signified with names.
Within high walls of Paradise enstoned
we must obey strict policies of action
that well control behavior of each person
so we will create rather than destroy
in social justice of our self-control
through liberty in law by God enforced.
Forever leaving walls of Paradise,
each father of my bloodline journeyed forth
on foot or rolling wheels of wagons heaped
with tools for colonizing wilderness
of ambitious pride on fresh river shores
to expand living room of our great nation.
Once out beyond gold gates of Paradise,
guarded by flaming swords of grim police,
we cast our gaze on vast potential fields
and contemplate where next we might migrate
to living according to our own strict rules
rather than obey some remote monarch.
When lost in boundless wilderness of hope
we gather close around warm glowing flames
to chant guiding proverb of Lucifer,
better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven,
then follow bright indifferent star to find
lush river shore to build new Paradise.
How shall we follow personal desires
while sharing space in large communities
so every person may fulfill their wish
without conflicting in contest for goods
against our follow citizens through trust
by acting based on guidelines of respect?
Though we employ tools of cooperation
through accounts of right reason to produce
food that nourishes every hungry soul,
even those we build to liberate men,
we contest disconcerting tendency
to obey censorious moralities.
Bound within high stone walls of Paradise,
that protect us from marauders and thieves
who would enslave us to work for their wealth,
we must follow policies of the state,
and obey rules enforced by strict police,
so all may prosper in frame of one law.
Yet when I suffer painful punishment
because I consume the forbidden fruit,
that blossoms on the tree nature provides,
I may escape tight bondage of the state
to leave behind hard walls of Paradise,
forfeiting both protection and punishment.
Yet if I build my own strong Paradise
will I become as strict in rulership
as that arrogant king of God on Earth
whose laws restricted my free right to work,
so I pay no taxes but to myself,
strong enough to survive hostile attacks?
Whatever type of Paradise we choose,
self-reliant on our small river farm,
or dependent on large community,
we must obey rules of honest respect
to control creative force of our actions
so we cause good effects rather than bad.
What universal law shall we design
that sets parameters of forceful action
where every person chooses the right course
that through our interactions creates good
based on honest judgment of our free will
so we all live in harmony of love?
Expelled from Paradise of tyranny,
because I rebel against harsh oppression
of state authorities to exploit my labor,
I build Paradise of democracy
where I act in harmony of free will
with equal citizens who work together.
Leaving Paradise, we build Paradise
where we work together for good of all,
then gather in grand feasting hall each day
to eat and drink good food our hands produce,
and share stories about our cultural heroes
whose examples show us how to live well.
"I remember with particular gratitude the late W. J. Harvey's inaugural lecture at Queen's University, in which he analyzed the opening lines of 'The Prelude' to show how those lines were influenced by the closing lines of 'Paradise Lost'. Once it has been pointed out to us that Wordsworth's joy in open country and his sense of release from the bondage of the city are consciously set in the penumbra of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden, and that the language of Wordsworth's lines invites us to read his freedom in the context of that expulsion, then the whole lift of the passage is increased, and the wave of Wordsworth's feeling is rendered seismic by one discreet literary allusion."
ReplyDeleteSeamus Heaney
The Makings of a Music:
Reflections on Wordsworth and Yeats
English Romantic Poetry