Member-only story
A life begins, its fate to die — To want, to wilt, to cling, to cry.
Bound by nature’s contradiction, Fighting her flight with writhing friction.
From pills to bills, to fleeting thrills, new wants arise, new wills instill.
To know is to need, and need brings pain; A life, a brain, seeks knowledge in vain.
The pills defend from nature’s claw, The bills enforce the nation’s law.
To spend, to send, to know he can — Thrills distract from nature’s plan.
All he fathoms fuels the fiend; Fulfillment’s lure remains unseen.
Means match the mind, malcontent grows — Oh, how he lunges for fleeting shows!
He chases shadows, fleeting and fast, Moments of joy that never last.
Through tangled paths and endless bends, He seeks the solace the world pretends.
The sun sets low, the skies turn gray, Dreams once vivid now drift away.
Yet still he strives, with weary might, For hope’s faint flicker in the night.
Never at pause, never at peace, chained by desires that never release.
A child of earth, a child of pain: To live is to lose, whatever you gain.
And yet, within this endless plight, there gleams a truth, however slight:
Life’s worth lies not in what’s obtained,
but in the love and lessons you have forever gained.
