The Shrug Of Ayn Rand Poem by Daniel Partlow

What is at the core of the sandy randy rind?
Is there good flesh in the apple of Ayn’s state-of-mind?

She voices well the laws of non-contradiction
And the Either-Or proves the dialectic to be fiction.

But under the crimson skin of liberty and logic what does one find?
A juicy pulp of self-centeredness on which a worm of apathy hath dined.

Atlas’s fetter may now be loose, but there is another bind.
The maggot writhes in a fetid morality of an unloving-Buddhist kind.

On the outside gleams an attractive hue of the inalienable rights of man.
‘Morality ends where the gun begins’ is not unlike Christ’s enemy-loving plan.

And that the fruit of wisdom is life, not death or torture by some bully.
But Ayn, it is only through His suffering that we have life, and have it fully.

Christ said, whatever you do, even for the least, so you do for me.
But the worm promotes a more inward philosophy of “Me”

Chirst sends us out to harvest every blade of wheat.
But the worm says that finding your own happiness is what makes life complete.

Christ says the good shepherd leads his flock back into the fold
But the worm argues that it is like being towed to the dump, to do what you are told.

Christ says “Love your neighbor and even your enemy” – To the worm anachronism:
“Civilization’s survival requires the rejection of the moral of altruism”

“I swear by my life and love it, I’ll never live for another” sayeth the worm.
But Jesus says ‘Everyone who loves his life will lose it (at the end of his term) .’

The worm attributes every tool and modern comfort to the reason of man
But everything is a blessing from God, according to the true Son of Man

The worm says that accepting unearned guilt, is itself the worst guilt of all.
Yet Christ died on the cross to bear everyone’s guilt, to the rapture from the fall.

And He encourages us all to take up our own crosses every single day.
Yes to be a servant of our fellow man, unlike the worm who thinks only those who betray.

No doubt, Ayn, there are some leaches who lick the blood of another’s sacrifice
But the only true freedom is in the cross we bear, His altruism does suffice.

“Sacrifice” is not the leper’s bell of an approaching looting crook.
While the worker deserves his wage, let no one overlook,

His was a model for us all, so why would we not follow Christ’s lead.
Neither ‘Success’, nor selfish ‘Actualization’, There is only one thing we truly need.

A building does have integrity, just like, and about as often as a man.
But it is more likely to have it when it is built on Jesus’ Rock and not on Ayn’s sand.

Saying ‘I love you’ will indeed always start with saying ‘I’
But let it be an outward commitment to another, not just an inwardly wanton cry.

Rough Draft - By D. Partlow