Classic Poem

That the word reason denotes:
an operation of the mind (as in law
or science) in accordance
with etiological norms
derived from the " Natural World; "
which, curiously, has produced
homo sapiens and his reason, which
now holds hostage that same
natural world and reason itself
and hence all science, all law
all history and human time
past present and future ...

That Reason can wreck a world
but not make one, the question
remaining: can it save one? ... We look
for a law to transcend law. We take
for a paradigm our own
spontaneous prodigy of compromise ...
How good is it? Can it hold?
Can anything hold — let alone
against human avarice — hold
against human kindness multiplied
by a terrifying fecundity?