There are some whom we call
'Pliable and weak,' and who learn
The words of some famous masters,
To which they freely yield their assent,
Being secretly pleased with themselves,
And thinking their extensive knowledge
Is quite sufficient, while they do not know
That they have not yet begun to understand
A single thing of the worldly accomplishment.
It is this that makes them so pliable and weak;
However, they don't know about it until the close.
There are some whom we call 'easy and hasty'
And who are like lice on a wild boar's skin.
The lice select a place where the bristles
Are more wide apart, and look on it as a grand palace
Or even a large park. The slits between the hooves,
The overlapping of its wrinkles, about its nipples
And its thighs -- all seem to them safe apartments
And advantageous residences -- they do not know
That a hunter one morn will spread the grass
And kindle the fire so that they and the boar
Will be roasted together in a short while. So,
Do they appear and disappear with their homes
And luxurious apartments where they harboured?. .
This is the reason why they're called 'easy and hasty.'
There are some whom we call 'grasping and crooked'
And who could be likened to alternation of day and night.
There're rankness and generosity about the conduct of the sun,
And all people are pleased with it, that's for sure.
When there's sunset they're waiting for the sunrise, saying,
'We are looking forward to the benefit of its coming here.'
When the sun appears, its brightness comes and goes,
But its intelligence and generosity are not decayed,
And yet it cannot find a place of rest, its home away
From home for it. This is an instance of being grasping
And wayward from the part of all crooked people.
As you so rightly suggest in this unusual poem, we have much to learn from Mother Nature, even from the lice secluded in their "safe apartments" within the folds of a wild boar's flesh. Sometimes, I feel like I am in such a "safe apartment", only to wonder what might happen next. A fine metaphorical narrative that reads very well.
An interesting progression of words and descriptions suggesting the weakness of man progresses from being born straight to ending up crooked, both physically and mentally. Sadly, most never contemplate nature's lessons that might help correct humanity's slow decay, unlike the everyday reminder: "When the sun appears, its brightness comes and goes, But its intelligence and generosity are not decayed," Much to ruminate over in this piece.
While Debtors prisons no longer exist, many people continue to be persecuted for crimes related to poverty or inability to repay money owed to municipalities. This practice remains in an injustice that needs to be rectified.
For the reasons I describe in this book, the world-wide suffering, death and extinction of humanity is very likely to occur, unless nonviolent and democratically determined radical and revolutionary personal and societal actions and changes are taken
A detailed study of the origins of the New Alienation. The author labels it normative or postmodern ennui and traces its rise to cultural power over the last two centuries.