The Wanderer, The Sage, The Oracle— An Epic

(Or Zarathustra spoke to Faust)

“I like to think. I like to think —A lot!”

10 years ago… One day,

When the Wanderer was getting Top Secret-Clearance for an endeavor,

He was asked, in how many places he had lived

In the past 10 years.

20 it was…

The answer, which surprised him too.

And since that day it’s been 10 more

Who knew?

A total of 30 then! Since then, since it began.

Although — it had begun much sooner, much before

The Wanderer — he moved… He had to move!

He started moving when he was just two

He sometimes fell

Yet didn’t give up and tried anew.

In not too long he moved through forests, rivers, lakes

Through alleyways he moved and raised the stakes

He climbed the fence

To take the leap into a larger world.

To take a look at lights he wasn’t told

He moved by train, by bus, by air, sometimes without a fare

He moved upstairs and downstairs — soaking the view

As if to share to those who weren’t there

Or maybe they just didn’t care

Maybe they thought nothing was there

But he, he took the elevator to the largest dare

As if to show he didn’t feel the scare.

As long the masks he wore gave him new lives

As long as longer nights will make it last

Many lives he lived, each different from the past,

Many lives he lived and tried so many masks,

He tried them all, tried every taste at life!

Some tastes — he tried some more

Some tastes — he tried a lot

Those stars, which all strive for — he tried a lot,

To know what was the hype,

To taste it all and say:

“Enough! I am full!

Many lives I’ve lived and places came and went!

Many lives I’ve lived, enough for 30 lives

Those with me on the road have seen the dance

The wild ones, those who know — you have to know!

And those who love to taste some danger

And life’s glow

And those whose courage is as white as snow!

As courage had to walk over the path,

The path that innocence did not dare to go

And when I finally got across the stretch,

The view was covered by a violent flow.

That’s when I took the jump into the flow,

The flow that gives you calm and fear

In the row

And then the dance and play became

A vibrant show

And then my life became a movie in its glow!

One day when watching a real movie in its glow

It felt too slow

I knew now, real movies had become for me too slow!”

Was that a sign that all was moving way too fast?

Too many faces, too many lives

Too many secret places, too many thrown dice?

The Wanderer, your backpack is too heavy of a price?

Was that the sign he had to slow, to clear his mind?

To let it grow and give its seeds just little flow, and let it bind?

The Wanderer is off the stage!

The Sage is back!

He speaks not much.

He toils not much.

Just when he sails or flies

Or when he climbs — a month’s journey’s rise.

The rest of time he thinks instead — he thinks a lot.

And when he doesn’t think, he stops and says:

“I think a lot, I think a lot,

I think a lot — How it all binds together

How all these people, places, things and faces

Dance together.

How everything that grows apart and comes together

How everything that crawls apart and runs together

How everything — how the whole world all runs together!

And how the moon runs from the sun and comes together!

I like to think. I like to think — A lot!”

—

5 years then passed and colors changed

And visions rage with thoughts deranged

And voices changed, faces estranged

5 years then passed, then came that day

That sunny day

The day the sudden showers broke

The clouds rolled along Volcano’s mouth

And as the birds flew along the water’s faith

The Sage, he stood there looking at the clouds

Soaking the rain it was

It was that day

That night he yelled out

He yelled out — that infamous outer-exchange:

“The Oooooooooooracle!

Him it must be, whom I shall see!

Whose vision is what is to be!

Whom I shall tell,

I have studied physics, mathematics

And economics and dynamics

I have studied flocks of birds, of people,

Of pilots, pirates, parrots

I have even studied bio-informatics!

And lastly, I have studied all the ways of all the manics.

Yet still, yet still I haven’t found the meaning of all

Of all these birds

And all these Passion-Flower-Dramatics.”

The Oracle!

He took the stage

Arms raised to gauge!

With solemn smile, vision engaged.

His sight now focused towards the Aged.

At a crystal ball in colors so strange

He yelled out boldly:

“Iris! Iris!

I have traveled long across all these lands

I have suffered heat and cold on my bare hands

I have crossed the mountains, crossed all the lakes

I have crossed the oceans, crossed what it takes

I have come to see the Aged.”

The Elder’s Council then showed its delight

And with a hush replied to all the gush:

“Sometimes the path guides us in ways

In ways we haven’t dreamed of in our wildest days,

But now you found your way to the cocoon

And soon it shall be conceived, so very soon. “

The Oracle raised up his head and said:

“Iris! Iris!

You have let me free, so free to roam

And now we see each other under this dome

But if you could bequeath to me

What was the meaning of all that pain and glee?”

The Elder’s Council look down with resolve and said:

“It is when we can see from north to south and from west to east,

That sometimes there is no difference

Between the beauty and the beast!

Now you have seen the journey that is told,

You won’t succumb even as you get old.”

The Oracle then bowed down to the floor

And gave the Elder’s Council the grand duty in galore.

After which the Oracle rose up and left the stage!

“His biggest weakness shall also be his biggest strength”, whispered the Wanderer.

Disclaimer:

Since I am a dyslexic, I am prone to spelling and grammar mistakes. Hopefully it does not distract from the substance of the poem.

Thank you for reading this poem :)