…in a world I never made.
I was listening to something recently and the aforementioned line from the A.E. Housman poem was brought up, “I, a stranger and afraid, in a world I never made”, and it stuck with me. Now, I’ve never read any Housman, I’ve never read the poem it’s mentioned in nor even heard the specific line before, but even with no context it resonates with me.
In Housman’s poem he was referring to the inescapable nature of the laws of God and the laws of man, and subsequent judgement and bending against his will. The following poem of mine will be a slightly different take, but still focusing on the idea of feeling like an outsider and fearful in an environment you have little to no control over its design.
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made
Why can’t you just leave me be?
Is that what it means to be free?
Just what is control?
That question taking its toll
The illusion of free will
Determinism the bitter pill
The cost of conformity
The value of individuality
Develop a vision
The price of admission
Alone and isolated
A magnet for bad ideas propagated
Falling prey to opportunists
My iron will does not let me do this
False idols, worshipping idiocracy
The default state is not democracy
Swapping ropes with sticks
A world full of pussies and dicks
My fellow man, I understand him
But I do not know him
A doer of bad deeds in the name of good
Will never recede like they should
The human element is disappearing
I fear my replacement is not reassuring
We marvelled at our own magnificence
Artificial Intelligence birthed into existence
The greater the chaos, the greater the desire for security
An instinctual human fear to be exploited, unfortunately
Followed, tracked, monitored…doesn’t anyone find this odd?
Man has created surveillance with a further reach than God
In the name of Jesus, of Allah, of the religion of no religion
“We fight for peace”, said the message carried by the pigeon
Separation of church and state in the one nation under God
Ironically, the cognitive dissonance doesn’t prod
Born too early, born too late
Prices and egos the only things that inflate
To work from dawn until dusk, no guarantees
What can we do to mask the musk, worse than faeces
As an outsider, I see self-improvement making us worse
Only for the few a deepening of the purse
As an outsider, wellness is making us sick
Why do we trust those whose credibility isn’t worth a lick!
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made
I have Plato and Dostoevsky to keep me company
Oh shoot, here comes someone, they’re on to me!
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