All along the garden’s edge The boundaries burning Atop the blackened sedge The angels chained Their eyes become cruel As they raise the iron rod To enforce the golden rule
And lifting up his flaming sword Michael asks anew;
“Have you any reason Why I should not do As I am commanded to?”
And Descartes is there With Milton, Hume, and Kant All searching for a reason But the evidence is scant
White with fear, they fear There is no getting around This condition No mountaintop to be crowned Outside of this perdition
Now an adversary rises up From Milton’s skull His eyes are full With both pain and mirth The his body is a scar That cannot forgive The wound of his birth
Turning back face to face He speaks to his creator And mocks the very voice That proclaims man the savior
“Reason, thank you, Has fed me very well, It fully backed the coup d’etat That sealed my lordship in Hell, I am grateful Oh yes to be sure And I hope you don’t think it unkind That I must levy such heavy taxes On your rational animal mind. But as I know myself For I came from the working class Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit, It does no good to ask…”
And from their iron cages The faces of the sages Turned to an occidental sky
Looking west of Eden Burned by the sun of evening They gave out a burdened sigh
But above them the birds in flight And below them the flowers in bloom For whom Each day God Rises from the tomb Looked on All the while With sad But knowing smiles
For humanity the idol builder For humanity the idol slayer
We Who have become Terrified by treason Lost in the forest Of our very freedom
We Who are lost at sea Our spirit and flesh The ship And shipwreck…
We Who have become Terrified by reason Lost in the forest Of our very freedom
We Who are lost at sea Our spirit and flesh The ship And the shipwreck Of our odyssey