Reductive<\/p>\n
In days of caves and communal songs, in days of old,
\nThere was no morphine. The humans\u2019 brains
\nWere just as quick and big as in 2010,
\nBut there were no bookstores or even any libraries,
\nSo when a situation came up which seemed new
\nThere was little guidance, only the oral history bullshit.
\nIn unendurable pain from just about anything,
\nCancer, diabetes, eye infections, gangrene, hunting bites,
\nSevered limbs, a widespread deadly arthritis to die from
\nThat hurt more than our arthritis now,
\nA decayed tooth, all the forms of cancer I should have
\nMentioned specifically instead of it generically, since there was no morphine
\nAnd no books, they thought about the beginning, the very
\nBeginning, the person who was in unendurable pain and those bedside
\nThought and thought and suspected that if they came up
\nWith the answer, how it all began, they could have a say
\nIn how it was turning out or how it was structured,
\nAnd get at the pain that way. They thought (remember,
\nTheir brains were as capable as ours) of the
\nBig bang and of the it-was-always-here idea
\nAnd once thought of the it-would-always-be-here idea
\nApplying the latter as the non-end of the bang and the non-never-end
\nOf the always here. None of that helped of
\nCourse. What, did you think I\u2019d tell you it helped? Or
\nThat they found out by thinking what the correct answer was?
\nSo they invented morphine and books, took a while. These have solved
\nA lot of problems, but not the big ones.
\nI know you suspect they must have had their
\nAlbert Einstein and their Stephen Hawking. Hawking
\nHas just said yesterday that we are doomed
\nUnless we go into space far and often. Their Hawking in days of old?
\nSaid the same thing, don\u2019t ask me how I know, I know.
\nOur Einstein said six decades ago that the bees
\nBetter not disappear or we will disappear four years from then. He
\nMaintained it was his most important discovery (ok,
\nSo he didn\u2019t think it was the most important, so what) and now
\nHalf of the bees disappeared last year, no shit. Their Einstein
\nIn days of old said the same thing about the bees, but
\nHe studied nothing else, was not a mathematician or physicist, just
\nThe bees, which were all around him, as were the plants. (Do
\nYou really want to ask me how I know, come on, use
\nYour common sense, it\u2019s not in the books and it is in the books.) Also
\nThe artist is the main figure in the landscape
\nNo matter the year and that\u2019s me. Think of it
\nThat way and see if it doesn\u2019t make you feel better.<\/p>\n