Ode to the Animal Within
(in the style of Walt Whitman)
Not really—no, not really—
My needs are your needs, O brother, O sister, O kindred of the earth,
Eating, sleeping, spreading seeds—
Simple, unadorned, as the fox in the hedgerow, the sparrow in the eaves,
The lion in the grass, the ant beneath the stone.
But not for us, the upright, the restless, the ever-yearning—
We, the seekers, the builders of Babel, the dreamers of endless want,
Turn food to feast, to festival, to hunger never sated,
Turn sleep to restless tossing, the search for softer pillows,
Draped in the anxiety of tomorrow’s dawn.
We, who make of coupling a contest, a marathon, a spectacle—
When the deer leaps, the wolf howls, the salmon leaps and is done,
Find, fuck, forget—
But no, not for us, the humans,
We compare, we covet, we ache,
We chase the horizon of happiness,
A mirage, a will-o’-the-wisp,
Trapped in the labyrinth of our own making.
O fools! O children of craving!
See the golden arches, the neon lights,
The endless aisles, the glowing screens—
All for the benefit of others,
All for the profit of those who stoke the hunger,
Who fatten on our longing.
No satisfied craving comes free—
We borrow joy from tomorrow,
Pay it back in pounds, in pain, in sorrow—
In the heavy heart, the diabetic vein,
The mortgage chained to the ankle,
The empty bed, the restless mind,
The body that forgets how to touch, how to be touched.
Cravings gone wild,
Desire unbound,
We are the animals who forgot how to be animals.
O let me return!
Let me shed this skin of want,
Let me be the beast beneath the moon,
Let me find food, a warm place to sleep,
And the occasional mate—yes, from behind,
And call it good,
And call it life.
O to be simple,
To be wild,
To be free—
To sing the song of the animal within,
And be content.
Awesome idea, Peter.
I still like the original best
Thanks Mary….like your avatar.
Thank you, Peter