Oh, how

Oh, how

We castigate

The philosopher

Challenge the scientist

Draw him to the sword

Hang him

On tenterhooks

Close his eyes

As we close ours.

The weariness of the word

The sacrilegious

Malcontent

The alarmist

The prurient dissolute

Distilled in spirits

Spouting forth

On the grandiosity of the academic

The primacy of opinion

Over theory.

Throw them to the wolves.

All thee who enter here

Shall be engulfed

In darkness.

The age of enlightenment

Is come to an end

The world is on its knees

Scratching around in its own dirt

Looking for the answers

So easily discarded.

Lost in translation.

Street walkers

And ramblers

Burn in much the same way

As wreckers and Luddites.

Keep to the right

Or is it the left

We are all in debt

To the gamblers

Who took a chance on a long shot

To sail around the world.

Took a slow boat to China

Walked the length

Of the Silk Road

Climbed Everest

Without oxygen

To prove that

Where there was a will

There was a way

Out of the primordial

To walk on two legs

And make progress toward

Being a human.