To Exist In Theory... Poem by John Tansey

To Exist in Theory

To sense the “Human Dilemma” of Gandhi.
To intuit the faithful resolve of Martyrs.
To be humbled by the unshakable spirit of those,
Nursing the diseased and forgotten dying.
To withstand the unbearable despair
Of Einstein, that though his theories could slow time,

They would not stop time from taking him,

But live to regret, the splitting of the atom,
That gave birth to the death of millions.

To feel the light, the ecstasy of Van Gogh,
Before the Absinthe, the Mistral winds,

The ensuing dark night and mania that drove him mad.
To face the disillusion of Michelangelo,
In his old age, to resolve that sculptures of God

Were better left, within the blocks
Of unfinished marble that hid him, within

Or volunteer for the worlds' injury;
dissuade a leaper from the ledge,

If only, to prolong his agony,
Until the next ledge, it would be well intended.


John Tansey 4/22/07