Not What We've Been Told, But Something Else

We strive daily, diligently, always trying to do the best we can
Living life day to day, minute by minute
Supporting ourselves, our families, our habits and practices
Rites and ceremonies, meant to keep us in check and balance
In harmony with the universe...
So we think.
We smile at the elderly, treating them with respect and admiration
We pat the heads of children, bright eyed and innocent
Looking into their eyes
Recalling our past or the broken promises of our tomorrows
We give our all to love, wishing and doing for the other
More than we would consider for ourselves
Sacrificing our desires on the altar of dedication
To the notion of the beloved, the family
Or the deity we think we know and adore as devotees
So many dreams that sank into oblivion, forgotten
Like some ancient vase from a sunken Phonecian galley
Hoping, wondering, praying
Wishing them all well
The young, the old, the wayfarer
The mailman, the lawn cutter, doctor, dentist, shopkeeper and tailor
Schoolteacher and plumber, fisherman and grave digger, all of us
Going about our business, putting out of our minds
The inevitable reality which will overtake us all

Death....the name reverberates terribly in our mind
Without pronouncing it on our lips
Lowly is resounds, suggesting impending doom
Like the sound of a deep church bell
Or the beating upon a lone drum
Keep busy, keep busy, work, mend and get on with your chores!
Visit your church on Sunday, or mosque on Friday afternoons
Synagogues filled with the devout on Saturday Shabbas
In temples and ashrams, cave and cloister
Devotees seeking the reasons for life and living
And why it is that the inevitable, which brings our day to a close
With no guarantee of heaven or the promised gardens
With cushions, upon which the elect recline
Rivers of wine served to the blessed by angels...supposedly
As the clergy of all the faiths tell us, as if it were fact
As if they really know

With these promises in mind we are ever reminded to accept a truth Which cannot be proven
On pain of torture or excommunication we are forced to accept That which in our hearts we question 
In the depths of our soul, knowing full well our heart, our instinct Never lies to us
Because society said so, because we are afraid of the unknown...
"It would be better for thee, if ye but knew" we have been told
Time and again, century after century, millennia, over the ages
Heaven or hell, take your pick, for free will is yours for the asking
Even though the millions lost in wars and famines 
In shipwrecks and plagues
The murdered, the raped, those beaten and crippled
By those abusers of their granted free will
Or those struck down with incurable disease, or born with defects Inherent in their genes
This notion of free will, granted by god or by the gods equally
If only the victims of terror and pain or the dying, innocent child
Had such free will to make but one wish...
That they had not been born at all

Light and dark on a collision course, ever blending
Always creating and bringing forth
We are the final outcome, a result of that primordial collision
Of two opposing forces
This is why where there is love there too we find hate
War, peace, sickness, well being, encouragement and sheer jealousy
This is the nature of our existence

Free yourself from that which you have been taught
Forced to accept
From those who feared to speak the truth
Yes, Divinity is goodness, peace, harmony and light, seek this light
But know that it is not the nature of the universe
Nor the ability of the beneficent light
To stop evil on it's own for if it could, it would...
Deep within, permeating your body of matter formed
From the darkness is a luminescent soul, an inner being of light
The real and true you
Death is a victory for the soul, a rite of passage
Freedom! Liberation! At last!
We join the eternal light, forever, illuminating the heavens
To the chagrin of the lord of darkness
Extinguishing black, stinking, dank negativity
We join the realm of the crystalline
On that fateful day all our pain and sorrow
Regrets and disappointments, finally comes to an end
So strive with all your will and power, inspired by light
For this realm and garden of luminosity
Is your final and permanent abode, your goal
And darkness will just have to deal with it's own defeat
The chaos that it has brought forth over eons of time
Will implode, collapse upon itself and crumble
Under the severity of it's own weight
Every time we die, a new light is lit
A light which can never be extinguished...
Ever