STANDING AT FEARFUL ATTENTION Poem by Alexandre O’Neill

Standing at fearful attention, we're grateful
to fear, which keeps us from going mad.
Decision and courage are bad
for our health; life without living is safer.

Adventurers whose adventures are history,
standing in fear we struggle against
ironic ghosts in our ongoing quest
for what we never were and won't be.

Standing in fear with no voice of our own,
our heart ground up by our teeth, we are
the madmen, we're our own ghosts.

A flock of sheep pursued by fear,
we live so together and so alone
that life's meaning has disappeared.