Enkomputiligis Don HARLOW

God-Thirst

by Daniel Treesong Burke

What shall we teach our children now
That hallowed truths have turned to lies
And pale technicians have no art
To fill the hollow they despise
In tales that bolstered generations?

Some fellow orphans of belief
Disdain the empty gift of reason
And cast their souls beyond the reef
Of ancient fantasy, to alien dreams
In the attic heap of time.

While others throng to wreathe with gold
The gleaming robot head sublime
Science has offered as our newest
Dying king of god-thirsty horde.

Even the mass that has no name
Outside its own to hail as lord,
No sacred hole to hide its void,
With unbelieved sermons tries
To keep its young off freedom's streets.

I will not teach my children lies
Of God or Goddess, upstart Science
Or blank atheist certainty.
I have no answers except, perhaps,
The hard gift of living free.

Daughter, son, I offer you
What few facts we almost know,
What hints we have of more to find,
An immensity that does not flow
From theory but is felt and seen.

And if you talk to trees or hear
Them whisper to your soul,
Believe or not but do not fear
To listen to the voice that sings
To you of endless hidden springs.