So!  You got to the top,

won all the prizes, achieved your dreams

you strove, struggled and made it!

a trueborn warrior, adventurer, devotee.

Built your empire, won the championship

did what your mother said.

You found and followed your mission

on earth or, in due course, off it,

the drive and fever of your passion

leading you all the way,

providing the motive and impetus

for itself, in its own right.

 

But, in this linear dimension

Then what?

 

Like the old bull, who inevitably falls

 to the wolves,

and the alpha wolf in turn,

usurped by his progeny;

the way everything that rises, falls,

so mountains, empires, oligarchies

eventually tumble, worn down by Time.

What then?

 

From the heights of fame or success,

of getting what one wants

ones hearts desire

of fulfilling duties, commitments, goals

is that the deal then done,

 time to start anew

something other or else?

Or retire, resting on laurels or pension

till death doth come?

 

Some lead, some follow.

Some don’t even want to get to the top

or be first, amass fortunes, be right.

 

Is there a reliable upward progression

in status and hierarchy

whether for career or security

depending on age, seniority, class?

By staying the course

one’ll “get there" in the end.

Is that really the base purpose for life:

to slog away

following the rules, catching the limelight

to achieve one’s potential...

End Of?

The nature of Man to ever push for more.

 

Does this consumer culture see the aims of education

- from home or school - as success per se?

And is this synonymous with liquid cash?

Is this the final arbiter

of what we’re on the planet for?

To be useful, dutiful worker bees,

motivated by rewards, driven by fear,

by social pressure and media brainwash - entraining the competitive gene

along with subservience & dependence

Let the achievers come through!

For the rest,

keep a bit above the bread-line, preoccupied

but trapped in an endless cycle of indebtedness

due to a surfeit of stuff to buy

on inviting payback later terms.

Credit cards, easy mortgages and loans;

disregarding runaway inflation

 - not to mention the costs of wars, pandemics, disasters of all sorts.

 

Simpler not consider Then what?