The State of Man

THE STATE OF MAN

A poem by Mike Wilson

Man’s progress through the years has been

A long and torturous road.

He’s traveled from the Troglodyte

And iron age men in woad.

He’s fought some bloody battles

For religion and for king.

He’s fought to make the world secure

He’s fought for everything.

He’s opened up his mind to learn

The mysteries of the globe.

He’s learned to write his facts in books,

The depths of space to probe.

He’s learned about diseases

And how to play his part

In creating waste with extraordinary haste

In neutron to neutron art.

From what has gone before this day

One could in truth exclaim

That man in reaching for the sky

Is now a victim of his fame.

This age must surely represent

The very peak of man’s ascent.

We must be evolution’s best,

Ten thousand years, we’ve passed the test.

But in all these things he’s yet to see

That progress changes naught.

He has evolved not one whit more

Despite all technology has brought.

We are still so very selfish

And full of spite and greed.

Compassion and love are skin deep things

And our moods lie captive to the need.

The need to cheat and lie and steal

Are just like seeds inside us

And we seem unable to reform

But carry on regardless.

Each generation starts again,

A genesis in fact.

But the lessons of our fathers

Do not change the way we act.

So watch corruptions forces

Spread out across the land,

Yet its message is neat and so very sweet

So we all stretch out our hand.

The only lessons we can learn

Despite the years man’s traveled

Is that to understand oneself

The mind must be unraveled.

Each man must make his journey on,

But society is changeless;

Rise up above the common throng

Start now you will need ages.