[Image: https://i.imgur.com/pyTNCbl.jpg]
Edit 1
Hanged Bottle
Seen from the bank above a rushing creek
this vision, serendipitous, appeared.
A headless reed arched stronger than the rest;
from its tip, tangled, naturally tied,
a bottle dangled by some random chance:
hanged, lynched by misadventure, left for dead.
The vision shifts: this bottle strung as bait
from some sly, tempting demon’s fishing-pole,
the sort of devil Bosch might have conceived,
stork-beaked and funnel-hatted - with his catch,
damned drunkards, writhing naked in his creel.
But that is not a faith revered today.
Instead we worship nature’s uncaused grace:
the random reed’s support, the vital lace
of duckweed tied, no doubt, in such a knot
as men could not invent, like DNA -
self-organizing majesty, no God
or human thought involved, all-natural.
So there it stands, symbolic installation,
no sign of man (except for that damned bottle).
Original version
Seen from the bank above a rushing creek,
this vision, serendipitous, appeared.
A headless reed arched, stronger than the rest,
and from its tip, knot naturally tied,
there dangled, by some random, weedy string,
a bottle left for dead, hung by the neck.
What did it mean? A bottle hung like bait,
from some sly, tempting demon’s fishing-pole,
the sort of devil Bosch might have conceived,
stork-beaked and funnel-hatted - with his catch,
damned drunkards, writhing naked in his creel?
But that is not a faith revered today.
Hail, Nature! See her uncaused grace displayed,
the random reed’s support, the vital lace
of duckweed tied, no doubt, in such a knot
as Man could scarce invent, like DNA,
self-organizing majesty, no God,
no man or thought involved, all-natural!
So there it stands, symbolic installation,
no sign of Man (except for that damned bottle).
I see the darnedest things. (Blank verse again.)
Edit 1
Hanged Bottle
Seen from the bank above a rushing creek
this vision, serendipitous, appeared.
A headless reed arched stronger than the rest;
from its tip, tangled, naturally tied,
a bottle dangled by some random chance:
hanged, lynched by misadventure, left for dead.
The vision shifts: this bottle strung as bait
from some sly, tempting demon’s fishing-pole,
the sort of devil Bosch might have conceived,
stork-beaked and funnel-hatted - with his catch,
damned drunkards, writhing naked in his creel.
But that is not a faith revered today.
Instead we worship nature’s uncaused grace:
the random reed’s support, the vital lace
of duckweed tied, no doubt, in such a knot
as men could not invent, like DNA -
self-organizing majesty, no God
or human thought involved, all-natural.
So there it stands, symbolic installation,
no sign of man (except for that damned bottle).
Original version
Hanging Bottle
Seen from the bank above a rushing creek,
this vision, serendipitous, appeared.
A headless reed arched, stronger than the rest,
and from its tip, knot naturally tied,
there dangled, by some random, weedy string,
a bottle left for dead, hung by the neck.
What did it mean? A bottle hung like bait,
from some sly, tempting demon’s fishing-pole,
the sort of devil Bosch might have conceived,
stork-beaked and funnel-hatted - with his catch,
damned drunkards, writhing naked in his creel?
But that is not a faith revered today.
Hail, Nature! See her uncaused grace displayed,
the random reed’s support, the vital lace
of duckweed tied, no doubt, in such a knot
as Man could scarce invent, like DNA,
self-organizing majesty, no God,
no man or thought involved, all-natural!
So there it stands, symbolic installation,
no sign of Man (except for that damned bottle).
I see the darnedest things. (Blank verse again.)
Non-practicing atheist