Not Better Than One

If we made our lives wide open to reading, music, art
How would we choose, decide where we should start
Never relished classical, like in the Saturday cartoons
Hate rock, jazz, yet to elevator Muzak you hum tunes

Presentation may be wrong; nothing works every age
Not just times around the sun; how each fills the page
Materials alter our ideas, as ideas alter our materials
Inexorable as gravity, cosmic rays, even time sidereal

Projected visions, through design, suggest a life divine
What feels natural, in tune, should be taken as a sign
The further we fill our world, our life, the more inside
Limited choice, bigotry, hatred is left no place to hide

The more our view is widened, the more we will invite
Wider we open our eyes, minds; the more we see light
We must crawl out from under the rocks where we live
Squinting, focus, we learn, in balance, the cosmos lives

Something is created when something else is destroyed
Confused labels, good or evil, states we embrace, avoid
Opposed, conjoined, eternally bathed in bright sunlight
Or forever hid in blackest gloom, starless, endless night

I believe we must consciously court a state called peace
So long we’ve been constantly at war, it’s time to cease
Motivated selfishly, my life’s tough enough without war
With money spent on battle toys, we might reach a star

“Pie in the sky,” you ask? Don’t you raise that question?
Priority driven repair, research, construction, exploration
Jobs created, roads, bridges restored and new-built cities
Spaceports growing failed metropolis’ easy as we please

Weapons we already have will stop any enemy, any day
Give them five years watching us soar, see what they say
Number crunchers, planners will supply the facts, figures
I’m throwing out ideas; it could be something even bigger

Preachers, pundits, politicians will scream it can’t be done
Offends their god, position, or interests; you pick the one
Until then, read a book, listen to music, appreciate some art
The choice is yours, just don’t put the horse behind the cart