roosted fringe strip orb ruby beat rush shame faith peaks spot heart
The Assignment
"Everything that irritates us about others
can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
― Carl Gustav Jung
The Scene
Two angels, roosted
Like two barn owls,
Observe the scene below them.
The Teacher
“Tell me what you see.”
The Student
“I see a globe, an orb,
A mottled blue marble
Fringed in a sky blue…”
The Teacher
“Fine. Can you go deeper?”
The Student
I see strips of land,
Mountain peaks and
Vast oceans…
The Teacher
“Yes. Good. But what else?
The Student
I see a proliferation of life:
Animals of all sorts, birds, plants, insects.
The Teacher
But these are all just things, objects.
What do you see within them?
What do you feel?
The Student
“I see…feel…that there are emotions—
Love, faith, shame, to name a few.
And I see…feel…their opposites too.
The Teacher
Good. That’s better. Go on…
The Student
“I sense many strong
negative emotions—
a dark overlay in the people:
Fear, anger, greed, a need to win,
to beat and triumph, an urge to rush
but no sense of a destination,
a needless assignment of value to
Stones—diamonds, rubies—that sparkle.
Trinkets and baubles,
That are given inexplicable value.
The Teacher
You are getting there,
Getting to the heart of the problem.
What is missing?
The Student
(thinks for a bit.)
Love. Compassion. Kindness.
It is there in spots, individuals,
But it is not universal, it is not
The herd default.
The Teacher
So, what is your assessment?
The Student
I am not optimistic,
I fear the malaise is too entrenched.
There are individuals
Who have promise
But the overall sense
Is one of fatality.
A collective fatality.
The Teacher
OK. I think you
Understand now.
For your last assignment,
A much harder assignment,
We will next assess
The planet they call Earth.
◊
Sounds like the last task to come has been encapsulated quite significantly and insightfully by the previous assignments. We know the problems and solutions but not the fix.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear! That is so stark and so frighteningly true. Have we lost the plot altogether? Is there no hope of salvation? Excellent poem!
ReplyDeleteYou've outdone yourself with this one! Your masterpiece (so far). I wish it didn't hold so much irony and truth.
ReplyDeleteYou pretty much covered the teacher. Even when not asking I tend to teach .
ReplyDeleteAlmost all of every work of mine has been the teacher, in the factory, the military, my job with Simulations and missions at NASA control center in Houston as an Aerospace Engineer, and 22 years as Professor Dr Jim at a college.
It's as if you are saying that this behaviour is normal, whatever the planet.
ReplyDeleteOh I love this The reflections of the student angel and the teacher guiding and I loved the surprise that that wasn't even earth. Curious now how the assignment for earth develops Or maybe not
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautifully constructed poem which raises much philosophical thought - Jae
ReplyDeleteI think the good parts are still there. Buried under 100 miles of extra dense fear, but there just the same. The question is, how to we learn to mine that?
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely one of your best poems, J. Surprises you, and makes you think.
ReplyDeleteWhat a meaningful conversation. I too wanted to write something deep but failed. Today is not my day.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!!! What the student saw was unnerving .... I am so glad you ended your stellar poem the way you did. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteAnd we're harder even than that?
ReplyDeletePK