Nature’s Pawns
Clothed in romantic notions of self-importance,
dogma, and other vain delusions, we create cultures
with ideals and rituals that give higher purpose and
meaning to our lives.
Those who question the effort are summarily touted
among other things as cynical and heretical. Those
of one culture often dismiss, isolate, challenge, or
slaughter those of another culture.
But fact, reason, and experience make clear the true
character, intension, and power of nature over us
to all but those unable to escape the vain delusions
of culture.
What we know for sure is what we observe. We are
born, reproduce, and decline in sexual desire along
with potency, after which comes death, ridding the
earth of unnecessary clutter and making room for
the next generation of nature’s pawns.
Copyright © 2016 Frank Zahn. Published in Perceptions: Prose and Other Poetry (Kindle Edition), Grove 49 eBooks 2016; Adelaide Literary Magazine, Number 80, September 2025, https://adelaidemagazine.org/between-sixteen-and-sixty-one.