Thunder at Darwin Station (Complete and Revised) Part 2
Seventh Thunder
Old Farmer Gregor planted his seed
Old Father Gregor followed his creed
crossing hybrids
crossing himself
celebrates their reproduction
celibate in his devotion
records their heredity
recites his Hail Mary
discovers their dominants
prays to his Domini
identifies their recessives
fingers his Rosary
isolates their alleles
praises his Almighty
describes their genetics
confesses to his Jesus Christus
Farmer Gregor will mend all
his socks
in the night
when there's nobody there
Father Gregor has men dole
their wages
to render unto their lords
and their Lord
Singing, peas porridge hot
peas porridge cold
peas porridge in the pot
nine days old
He cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or touch them
their genes
his God
But faith and reason will suffice for him
for his principles of peas
for his Prince of Peace
Singing, some like it hot
some like it cold
and some like it in the pot
nine days old
Eighth Thunder
she's selective, don't you know?
it's only natural, don't you know?
it's only fitting!
she'll pick and she'll chose
so much to gain, so much to lose
when she plays the mating game
and she'll decide
based on who can best provide
it's only natural!
and whenever she'll consent
to follow the line of descent
from virginity to maternity
she'll come into her own
as she's nesting in her home
as the maiden becomes the mother of eternity!
holy holy matrimony
with this ring
I thee wed!
holy holy mater-moany
with this ring
I thee bed!
sacrament of sex
mixing/matching/recombining
making a production out of reproduction!
choose with wisdom
choose with care
or maybe just whoever's there?
whomever she selects
it's only natural, only fitting
for survival begins and ends with her!
out of the pool and flowing through
swimming upstream and spawning true
floating down the birth canal here comes the offspring!
Great Mother
Mother of us all
Goddess/Empress/Queen
Mother Nature/Mother Nurture
Mother Earth/Mother Ocean
Holy Holy Mother of God
Venus Willendorf
Venus Genetrix
Danu/Nerthus/Frigg
Gaia/Isis/Ninhursag
Durga/Devi/Maya/Mai
Chava/Eve/Lilith/Lucy
Miriam/Mary
The Good Lady Madonna
And Mighty Mighty Mitochondria
Mater
Matrix
Metropolis
Mother City
Mother Land
Mother and Country (and Adam's Apple Pie)
Mother Tongue
Mother Board
(here comes the) Mother Load!
from sacred prostitution
to immaculate conception
she's the source of competition
it's her intelligent design
to make them preen
and make them sweat
it's a matter of selection
gestation and maturation
survival and transformation
she's the Virgin/Mother/Crone
it's only fitting, don't you know?
it's only natural!
Ninth Thunder
Watson, come here, I need you
I seem to have this crick in my neck
from gazing up at this stairway to heaven
this spiraling ladder divine
Watson, come here, I want to see you
for I fear that I may go blind
I have stared into the face of the Godhead
and unraveled the secret of Life
Watson, come here, it's elementary
and the base elements' number are few
Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine, and Thymine
four horsemen come writing on the wall
Watson, come here, it's all quite noble
it's Adam and Eve joined by a rib
it's Jacob wrestling the angel
it's self-replicating Diana Parthenos
Watson, come here, I must be frank
for I no longer know who I am
I've seen these molecular mechanisms mate
could this be the chemistry of love?
Watson, come here, I need a drink
make it a double elixir, if you please
for I've watched their random recombinant dance
but I don't know the source of the beat
Watson, come here, please help me
for now the Bible of Biology's mine
I've decoded that script so very sacred
and read from the Book of Genetics
Watson, come here, I grow dizzy
from tracing these curves back and forth
our origins lies back on this corkscrew path
our destiny lies somewhere up ahead
Deus ex ribo
New clay's breath
A sign?
Tenth Thunder
And so it happened to be
that fate and accident alike
saw us gathering at the station
and huddling close, one and all
waiting for the last train to arrive
anxious to catch the last ride out of town
wanting to make that final getaway
on the Number Ten line
on the train they call
Old Thunder
I saw Watson there
heading for a phone booth
he called his good friend Francis to come down
and together they waited entwined
what a pair!
I saw Father Gregor there
chanting a prayer
that his Lord have mercy on us all
I saw Thomas Henry there
accompanied by Aldous and Henry George
with old Charles seated regally
in his wheelchair
I saw Great Mother there
and many lesser mothers too
circulating with compassion and concern
I saw four horsemen ride down and dismount
and wait silently
with the crowd
gazing up at the charred coal clouds
and flashes of electric blue
Vulcan-forged Jovian-hurled Gaia-piercing
one struck the old family tree
and the ash came crashing through the roof
of the diner
bringing it down
pease porridge poured all over the patrons
time to stop monkeying around, the radio said
when it's over, it's over
over and out
over and out
I saw Judge Scopes come down from the courthouse
and find his way into the midst of the gathering
he left the jury hung on his gallows humor
declared it a mistrial and error
close-packed
suit-case closed
dismissed and adjourned
it's not my fault, he whispered softly
the Law wasn't written by me
I saw Stephen Jay point to some goo—old, primal, alive
he said, are you feeling lucky to be punctuated?
is it a period?
exclamation or interrogative?
or are you looking for instant comma
a colonoscopy
or just a kissed ellipsis?
it's all equilibrium lost
and equilibrium regained
you know, finding the origin of life
may be the death of me yet
I heard Father Teilhard speak
of God's evolving creation of man
and I heard Doctor Dawkins discuss
man's evolving creation of God
while the monkeys leapt and sang about
the last train to author C. Clarksville
as an orchestra played Also Sprach
and Stanley sat in his director's chair
filming these final moments of
a journey through time and space
I'll leave it for the audience to decide, he said
I won't spell out what it all means
I'm just a poor boy from the Bronx
I'm just a simple painter of dreams
I heard Kurt say he wanted a nugget
of a novel idea galloping on
that the simple shall inherit the earth
while complexities vanish
into the tar pits of time
I heard Mother Mary saying
should he shell out some coins
from the purse he carries blithely around?
for I won the bet with a story
of thunder that gave electrical birth
to offspring, a nightmarish breed
I am galvanized by my triumphant tale
of the evil that men do when they defy
Mother Nature's maternal labors
I saw sweet Jane making gorilla talk
saying, it's good always to recall
how humble in origin we are
the glory of apes in the mystery of ages unfolding
we must love our neighboring species as ourselves
I saw Rachel spring forth in silence
full grown, born from the strange foam
she was covered in carcinomas
saying, I am no Cassandra
I've seen it all in my dreams
I've seen the danger, the disappearance, the destruction
catastrophe is coming, can't you tell?
I'll take that last train no matter the destination
whither thou goest, I will go too
I heard Sojourner preaching to inquirers
saying, the truth seems quite clear to me
assuming your personal evolution
has given you eyes that can see
we must all sit down as one species
as we face up to the final Judgment Day
I saw old Karl get on a soapbox
making his marks as he spoke
I think it's a capital suggestion
to look for transformations
when the means of production
are subject to progressions
as populations are the object
of unnatural oppressions
leading inevitably to revolutions
resulting in mass extinctions
ja, ja, I heard old Sigmund shout back
ja, ja, mein freund, it's true
the ego thinks it's super to keep a lid on the id
we see the return of the repressed
in the dreaming suppressed
advancing from oral to anal
and progressing on to the genital
moving forward by means analytical
consciousness itself can evolve
I saw Ivan feeding meat to his dogs
his voice sounded clear as a bell
our environment establishes the conditions
through punishments and rewards
we are programmed by natural selections
to be what we eat
to be how we eat
to be where and when as well
I saw Marshall nodding in agreement
saying, we're sending and extending ourselves
orbiting in a global embrace
we have become our own mediations
but what is the message of life?
(Neil and Walter echoed the question)
What is the message of life?
I saw Albert sitting at a table
eying a stein of light beer
he said, no dice, weisenheimer!
all that exists in this universe are relations
it's obvious, just do the math
we are all just energy dynamic
flowing through the unified field
through spacetime together as one
Pablo twirled a mustachio and grinned
Pick a sober man to see movement
Pick a sober man to see change
Pick a sober man to understand
nature is an art form, he said
Salvador dallied a bit, quoting Karl
saying, all that is solid melts away
even time itself is melting down
melting down
melting down
melting down in entropic decay
and I heard good King James shout out, rejoice one and all!
we are witness to translation's transformation
and riders on rapid transition's transmission
revel in the thunders and come circle round
just as all that blooms must one day wither
so new offspring will spawn from every end
swimming upstream to a consciousness risen
here we go loop-de-loo loop-de-lie
just say yes, is that not right sweet Charles?
and I saw everyone turn
and I heard them all quiet down
as old Charles slowly rose to his feet
his frail body swaying unsteady
as he spoke in majestic baritone
this train has two destinations
two and only two directions
evolution and extinction
evolution and extinction is all
and it is written that there shall be ten thunders of evolution
ten great leaps forward in history
and it is written that there shall be ten thunders of extinction
ten events of grim consequence
are they the same ten thunders?
perhaps, perhaps they are
no one knows for certain
no one knows
no one knows
and with that
old Charles sat down
and I was waiting at the station, babe
I was waiting there for you
saying Shazam now
let's transform now
saying it ten times over now:
saying what Thee
safer wrote
of Sovereignty and Foundation
of Splendor, Victory, and Beauty
of Serenity, Kindness, and Understanding
of Wisdom, and of Will
so we enumerate the emanations
counting down from ten to one
or counting up and onwards without end
will we renew the gestating techcoon golem
to be born anew anointed one?
will we repair the vessels
heal the world tree
heeding the call divine
of sacred space
and time
and love?
will we delight in gems of new awakening
or cry out for a finish again?
and I saw the writing on the wall
it spelled out
Di
Nos
Aur
and I heard a choir singing, Allelelujah!
as the genee got out of the bottle
and ran off in a fit shouting
I will fight no more for heaven!
and I asked
is there nothing to show
for all this sounding fury?
and I heard the horn blow
and I saw the walls come down
and I listened as someone cried out
is there more to it all than survival?
is there more to it all than mere chance?
is there more than random recombination?
is there more than natural adaptation?
is there meaning to life as we live it?
is there meaning, and what does it mean?
our sciences have no answers to give us
our religions have too many answers to know
and I saw the train pull into the station
the last train now arrived
and we have to go
we have no choice
it's the last train
and there are no more
and I heard the conductor call out
all aboard, he shouted, all aboard
it's the last call from the station
all aboard the train, he said
and then I saw you there, babe
at the station
you were lost in the crowd
just like me
and you saw me there
from a distance
you saw me there
through the crowd
and we moved
across the gathering
through the crowd
and towards each other
as the conductor called out
all aboard the train now!
all aboard!
and everyone boarded the train
the last train
the very last train
and we tried to reach each other, babe
across the crowd boarding the train
the vey last train out of town
we tried to reach each other
as the last train left the station
the last train
out of town
