They say we are animals still
With one extra errant gene
The gene of consciousness
We eat, we sleep, we clean
We fuck, we forage, we play
Are killed and kill
According to an inbuilt program
Driven by desire, instinct, skill
Inhabited by need and appetite
Wired for action full of feeling
Happened our discovery of the tool
Extension of our will
Consequence of curiosity
Necessity and playfulness
We set in motion a long stage
of experimentation and invention
learning to make manifest
Ideas and matter into things
With names and meaning
Mind and mouth began to shape
Breath into articulated language
Body sound formed word and grammar
Love song, law and lullaby, utensil, spell
And weapon: yes, our words can kill
We do and undo anything with tales
Divide and rule, or elevate, illuminate
Collaborate, interrogate, unify and cultivate
Educate, manipulate, demonstrate, infuriate
Speak truth, make love, spread hate, or liberate
However law and place and power would dictate
The world’s a stage, and we the players
Authors acting out an epic global script
Word and action mingled in our drama
Entry, exit, stories that perpetually compete
With subtexts, through-lines, hidden agendas
Road maps so full of complexity
That our performances have grown
too convoluted, mushroomed
with too few protagonists
stealing the whole show
and far too many left to scramble
outside the limelight down below
Forgotten too our sister soil
Our brother wind, our cousin cloud
Our father mountain, mother sea
Our sibling earthling creatures, family
Of trees and stars, our womb and base
Our home’s ecology
With utmost sophistication
We violate our genesis
Rip everything apart
To lift the veil of ignorance
Write our own death sentence
For rest in peace we can’t
With the elegant twist of a Mobius strip
The human animal bites its own tail
And must confront the question
Can we overturn the verdict
By collective energy
Free our luminosity
And be more human still
Find our lost mind, our clarity
Fulfill our native connectivity
Redefine our destiny from our
Deepest memory to now, will we
Revolve our myths, our heart, our will