The Ages of Our Lives
By John Herlihy

We once lived in the age of enlightenment;
The physical world transparent, revealing only refinement.
The bird freedom, the mountain solidity, snowflakes purity,
When we gazed upon the earth, we felt complete surety.
Clouds fecundity, water flexibility, the diamond crystalinity;
All of nature contained a message that conveyed certainty.
The noble turtle carried on its back its own peculiar house;
A spider spins design in its web, a wall hole protects the mouse.
Everything had its place and everyone knew their own self;
Cast in the divine mold, we humans talked with God Himself.

We once lived in the age of the descent and fall.
The first couple were offered the wherewithal,
To inhabit an earth of relativity and opposites.
Light and darkness, pleasure and pain as composites,
Relativity in search of the security of the absolute.
Doubt seeking certitude in the heart to take root,
Within the ground of the awakening human soul,
That no longer understood itself to be fully whole.
Full of limitations and weaknesses in need of repair,
Adam’s children walked the earth on the edge of despair.

We once lived in the age of tradition,
Seeking to understand the human condition.
What constitutes the inner workings of humanity,
A common sense that supports our sense of sanity.
Something to temper the forces of our evil propensity,
A way to escape the confines of our inclusive vanity.
How to open up to the inner realm of the unseen,
An awakening of the soul born of the divine gene.
A mystery lay before traditional man to fully embrace;
A question whose challenge traditional man wanted to face.

We once lived in the age of ignorance,
Without any hope of free deliverance.
People embraced the slogan God is dead,
Without offering other alternatives instead.
We believed in the survival of the fittest,
Without understanding our true st interest.
Our bodily stature may represent the strongest
Our moral stature may represent the weakest.
What is the good to conquer and survive,
If you lose your soul and into Hell’s inferno drive.

We now live in the age of extremes,
On the verge of being shattered into smithereens.
The earth itself heaves up in violent convulsion,
Exploding volcanoes and tornadoes inspire revulsion.
The rich thrive on their riches while the poor get poorer;
Piety no longer pays, people prefer to react with furor.
Random terrorism is now fully accepted as a way of life;
We end up living our lives as if we are walking along a knife.
The ages of our lives have assumed many a disguise,
From enlightenment to extremes, with little hope of reprise.