PARAGONIA

I

    Paragonia is a vision of what might,
    With effort and imagination, come
    To be on Earth when once we learn to right
    Ourselves and our far-wiser nature plumb.

    It’s clear we’ve the potentiality
    For rising to new heights of consciousness,
    Transcending eons of rank idiocy,
    Replete with warfare no true sage would bless.

    The Paragonian way is that of peace,
    Co-operation and profound respect
    For others’ rights and needs, and the increase
    Of harmony, as souls with souls connect.

         The antagonism that so long has ruled,
         In Paragonia will by love be schooled.

II

    In Paragonia our benighted race
    Will have matured and grown wholly wise,
    Having explored and mapped all Inner Space
    And ultimately come to realize

    That in cooperative community
    With all of Gaia’s creatures, great and small,
    Transcending centuries of enmity,
    We’ll have at last reversed our fabled Fall.

    On Paragonia’s whetstone we’ll have honed
    The blade that cuts our egos down to size
    And severs us from sins for which we’ve groaned
    In ages past, but finally realize
    
        That concord and collaboration can
        Now resurrect the state of fallen Man.

III

    The folks in Paragonia don’t compete,
    Since competition is a kind of war
    In which opponents struggle to defeat
    Contenders in the hopes of winning more;

    Which means they have transformed what they call
        sports,
    A rigorous pastime for the brave at heart,
    That used to be a battlefield of sorts,
    Into a win-win exercise of art,

    And thus a model of a better mode
    For all relationships, grounded in care,
    Adhering to an ancient holy code
    That virtue is supreme, however rare.

        In Paragonia, though, it’s commonplace
        To treat all folks with charity and grace.

IV

CALIBAN ON PARAGONIA

      About this “Paragonia” crap I’ll say,
      Your expectations of humanity
      Are overblown if you think there’s a way
      They’ll wise up anytime this century—

      Or any other, as far as I can tell,
      For greed and selfishness and violence
      Have been their basic nature since they fell
      From fabled Paradise and lost their sense

      Of right and wrong, then jettisoned the will
      To sacrifice self-interest for the good
      Of others when the prospect of some thrill
      Derails them all from going where they should.

          Their rule is “Looking out for Number One,”
          By which your Paragonia is undone.

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