You saw a world of warrior heroes

righteous champions saving the frail

and wronged;

withdrawing to internal wildernesses

of self-loathing if/when you got it wrong.

Or when situations and persons sabotaged the plan.

So easy to fault the imperfect self,

when daring to stand up and out,

make decisions and take responsibility;

misjudgement or being duped

  - always an option,

 

How does wisdom grow if not via trial

and the risk of and courage to err.

Where is the wise man

who is always right?

The honest one who aspires to be so?

 -the only way to insure a peaceful sleep!

When all things are shades of grey

isn’t compromise a godly gift?

Inaction, avoidance and postponement

the tools of failed deals and weak hearts.

 

You thought you were a cowboy,

a swashbuckling Robin Hood,

a shiny knight, a saviour.

You, malleable dreamer

watched too many old movies,

listened to too many fairytales.

Despite the will and valour,

helpless in face of irate gods,

drunken men and destiny’s cruel turns.

 

How the great ones fall like burning stars

while small ones rise up, unexpectedly, against all odds

 - towering icons of sudden redemption — or devastation.

Not only from myth, legend, story

and matriarchal wishful hand-me-downs: but history’s records in stone, pen, song,

in bones, nightmares and artifacts

manifest immemorially, on-going.

To today’s mania around celebrity,

strutting egos, self-promoted

 on giant pedestals, conquistadors of all:

whether rampaging across Savannahs,

steppes, seas or lavish city-states

the blood, sweat and propaganda

raging like wildfire across the land.

 

That is your dharma, your burden

even philanthropic gift,

dressed in shabbiest disguises

or water-tight personnas

honed and impermeable, frail but sure;

on calamitous platforms for display

with inevitably disastrous finales;

mocked, dissected and misunderstood.

Did you believe, when you set out

that goals of success or status

were the point?

To achieve what you wanted,

do what you aspired to

fulfil contracts, honour some law or oath; get the appendages and recognitions

that might affirm your….your what?

Worthiness, uniqueness, prowess?

Or to compensate for deficiencies,

prove fallen idols wrong?

But

could the entire saga and drama

 be nothing personal? A collective plot

wherein the set-up is a stage,

the passion, motivation and skills

as well as the shortcomings, blind spots

being the necessary accoutrements

to equip you to play your part?

Nothing like believing it was “real”

to ensure best performance -

with the presumption that rewards

are the point.

Else, why would the human thing

even bother!