The materialist

What must it be like to think of yourself as simply an evolutionary body - formed by blind chance, with no purpose but to pass on your DNA to the next generation. You would be like the rocks or the sea with no point but to be worn down to dust and detritus.

The materialist

The earth feels no pain
from the wounds of the rain
that in strange constancy
falls emotionlessly;
and the rain does not please
to caress the cold trees.
The stream to the sea
flows ambitionlessly
and there is no disgrace
in the moon’s clouded face,
nor jealousy’s spite
in the stars’ lesser light;
and the wind all day long
does no right and no wrong,
has no sins to rescind.
He is one with the wind.