What is Humanity?

What is happiness, but hormones coursing through your brain?
What is despair but a simple absence of it?
What is love, but great liking
And what is hate, but dislike, only stronger by a bit?

What is order, but a simple idea
And what is chaos, but a lack of order?
What is anger, but a very bad fit
That happens when someone crosses your border?

A friend is someone you like
And an enemy is one you hate.
But a single experience can make friends enemies
And make enemies your closest mate.

A brother can be your worst enemy
And somebody else your best friend.
A father can be the most uncaring
But around others, that wound can mend.

Humanity is but a multitude of ideas
That cause order, love, and lack of pain.
Then what of those like Hitler:
They are human, yet inhumane?

Why is chaos considered bad?
Why is helping considered good?
Why is murder a class one felony
But murdering a tyrant, you should?

Humanity is a question that puzzled the greatest scholars
When it was they who thought of it.
It is us that follows its code
But we are losing it, bit by bit.

Against the Tide

As I walk down Night's peaceful shore
Shallow waves pacify my very core.
It is a great night for an evening walk
Just a nightly stroll and nothing more.

A raven hearkens the approach of the moon
For the sun will now be departing soon.
Above my head flies an eagle in its splendor
And in the distance is the cry of the loon.

The moon; she lightens up the night
Sending wraiths scattering about in fright
The moon is full, the night is clear
But clouds now block her from our sight.

High tide approaches and the waves draw in
As if to swallow the world for ungrateful sin.
The waves lap at my heels like a hungry dog
As I stumble through dark of Satan's kin.

I quicken my pace to overcome the sea
In a maddening race for victory.
Fright overcomes my dulling senses
As the loon calls out mournfully.

I scarcely feel the spray on my face
As I slowly begin to lose the race.
I suddenly realize its sheer futility
As the wave hold me in their cold embrace.

The tide drags me in with its iron grip
And frantically, I wait for its hold to slip.
Just one minor fault is all I need
But hope is lost in this desperate rip.

The clouds leave and bright is the moon,
The sea is peaceful and the sun rises soon.
The world is as normal as it can be
And in the distance is the cry the loon.

I Wonder Why

When I look up at the evening sky
See the stars twinkling in the night
See the pale moon shining bright
And I stop to think, and to wonder,
I wonder why.

The ocean in its vengeful glory
Dragging ships down to the deeps below
Its brilliant life setting the seas aglow
In flame, brighter than the brightest sun,
Telling its own watery story.

As a child, I was flung open wide
To the mysteries surrounding my very being.
I thought, “Why do we exist?” and began seeing
Of all possibilities in the world around me.
But the meaning of life lies deep inside.

Of all the things in the whole wide world
Only some are open to our knowing.
Others have only just begun showing
Answers to the very world around us
But yet the answers have not unfurled.

Life and the world, in all its mystery
Revealing little, demanding tons.
Most of what we see are simple illusions
Yet we still think, “I wonder why”
As it gets written in the great novel History.

I wonder why the nightly stars shine
Why there is pain and why we all must die
Why everyone here must eventually say goodbye
To all of our friends and family around us
And to those Destiny will later intertwine.

What is Destiny? What is Fate?
Is there really a set path in life?
Can it all end by a murderer’s knife?
All hopes, all dreams, all yet to unfold
Are all destroyed by a petty hate?

The world’s mysteries surround us
Why the moon shines, why the wolf howls
If we’ll ever travel to the Earth’s very bowels
And so I stop, and to think, and to wonder,
I wonder why.