Escorted - epilogue

Serene Seline was hiding today
Among the clouds of black and of grey
That hung across an indigo dawn
Before the new day was born

I left her behind at Heartshead Moor
And traveled onwards as before
But when I reached the turn of the road
Upon a salmon sky she rode

As the Sun rose she faded from view
Into a sky of duck-egg blue

Escorted

Serene Seline paused on her way
And walked by my side 'cross the moor
Where pink roses grow come summer or snow
Then she was with me no more

From Slaithwaite to Heartshead where roses are white
She walked alongside me then faded from sight
I saw her again as the new day was born
Her light washed away by the dawn

Serene Seline went on her way
Now I travel the moor
Where pink roses grow come summer or snow
Hoping to see her once more

Austerity Waiting

I know that one day when I go to the store
The man will say, 'Son, there ain't no more
You used it all up and wore it all out
Now its all gone, no shadow of doubt'

'You took it for granted but it was a gift
You should'a savoured it, you get my drift?
You behaved like you thought it was free as the air
And now you're surprised when I say it ain't there'

You go to the store bright and carefree
But those days are numbered, take it from me
You never wondered where it came from
But before very long it all will be gone

Listen to me and enjoy what you got
'Cos the day, it is coming, when you will not
The day when the guy who serves at the store
Will say to you, 'Son, there ain't no more'

The Four Mutations of Man - an essay

Hominum Simplex - Simple Man

To appreciate Hominum Simplex it is necessary to appreciate his host.  Not a planet, but a marvelous skin upon the surface of a planet.  Like the shell of an egg or the skin of an apple but, in this case, the thing of wonder is not the contents, the egg or the apple, but rather the living, breathing, self-sustaining skin.  This is Gaia and the question of where she came from, though fascinating, is not of current concern to us.  In the same way that your doctor does not need to know where you were born to diagnose your illnesses, we currently need not concern ourselves with the origin of Gaia.  Likewise with Hominum Simplex.  It is not necessary to concern ourselves with his origin in order to identify his first mutation to Hominum Avarum - Greedy Man.

Hominum Avarum - Greedy Man

Some will say that Hominum Simplex is a legend that never existed, that man has never been a symbiote living in harmony with Gaia, his host.  Whatever the case, the relationship of Hominum Avarum (HA) to Gaia is most definitely parasitic.  The net effect of his actions is to damage and disrupt his biosphere; however, at this point in history Gaia would be given a clean bill of health if she were to visit the doctor.  In the same way that a few malignant cells cannot be detected within trillions of body cells, the activities of Hominum Avarum left no trace upon Gaia.  However, the lack of a diagnosis could not change the fundamental truth that a terminal disease was beginning and Gaia was, in all probability, doomed.

Hominum Avarum Urbis - Greedy Man in a Town

The first symptoms of disease appear with the second mutation of man.  Though Hominum Avarum was not contributing to the health of Gaia, his activities were easily within her power to heal.  He was a low-grade infection that could not be eradicated, but she showed no symptoms of illness.  The mutation of some of his number into Hominum Avarum Urbis (HAU) however resulted in the first visible symptoms of disease, acne.  This does not sound too serious, but since Gaia is, in many respects, a two-dimensional organism, no blemish can be said to be merely skin deep.  The first visible sign of HAU infection was the appearance of large settlements that were not self-sustaining in terms of the provisions needed for their functioning, or the disposal of their wastes.

These settlements drew supplies from a wide area and were incapable of processing their wastes without damaging the environment.  As is common with skin infections, scarring was caused along with an offensive discharge, sewage.  As settlements grew larger their area of influence grew, with adjacent lands being cleared and downstream waters being polluted.  At this time in history however, the ratio of HAU mutations to HA mutations was relatively small, with the majority of the population still living outside of large settlements.

The effect upon Gaia was largely cosmetic at this point in the illness but, over time, more and more inflamed pustules began to appear.  The effect on the HAU mutants was striking though.  Over time they became completely habituated to life in settlements and, as a class, lost their link to the land, being completely ignorant about how their needs were supplied.  The largest of these settlements soon took on the characteristics of tumors as there was now no possibility of the mutation from HA to HAU to be reversed.

Hominum Avarum Urbis Capitis - Greedy Man in a Town with Capital

The regrettable growth of multiple tumorous communities was massively accelerated by the next mutation of the Hominum culture.  Gathering large numbers into one geographical location inevitably resulted in a concentration of damage.  This was true when the organisms were content to service only their immediate needs.  The abstract notion of stored value however massively increased the natural resources that were consumed.

At first value was only stored in the work that was necessary to build homes and make artifacts, and the work represented by stored non-perishable foodstuffs, grain for example.  Since the benefit of the work that is done today may be enjoyed at some time in the future, it would seem that objection to the concept of stored value lacks merit.  However, even in the two examples mentioned above, it must be admitted that the stored value is subject to arbitrary change.  Even if the valuable items can be safeguarded against loss or destruction, their value in the future is entirely dependent on the whim of the principle of supply and demand.

In regard to non-perishable foodstuffs we identify the seed of the mutation that produced HAUC.  Since these foodstuffs were thought to store value, the natural result was a tendency toward deliberate over production.  HAU mutants that grasped this concept became fixated on accumulating stored value, or capital.  In the agricultural model this resulted in excessive cultivation and the exploitation of HAU mutants by HAUC mutants.  The effect of the tumorous settlements upon the surrounding areas was exacerbated, all to no avail when fire or rot destroyed the grain that had been stored.

HUAC mutants overcame the problem of the destruction of grain capital by coming to a mutual agreement to store value in abstract tokens known as money.  Overproduction was still required to generate the value to be stored, and this system fueled the rapid spread of HAU across the face of Gaia in the following way.  HAUC and HAU mutants traveled to areas inhabited by HA mutants and set them to work extracting materials and cultivating virgin areas in exchange for money.  Any symbiosis between the exploited HA mutants and the land was quickly destroyed as they no longer cultivated it to service their needs, but rather according to the demands of the HAUC.

In time the majority of HA mutants died out and settlement tumors became pandemic.  In some areas multiple tumors fused so that no clear skin could be seen.  All HAU mutants became enmeshed in the money system and were now obliged to destroy resources, not only to fill their needs, but also to create the value coveted by the HAUC mutants.  The waste involved in this system started to seriously deplete Gaia's biodiversity as HAU and HAUC mutants succeeded in obliterating whole species for the first time.

Hominum Avarum Urbis Capitis Machinariis - Mechanised Greedy Man in a Town with Capital

At this stage there were indications of the problems to come, but the rapid decline of Gaia that followed the fourth mutation, HAUCM, was truly spectacular.  The harnessing of energy had been a constant advantage in the hands of all members of the Hominum culture.  Their use of fire had enabled the exploitation of alternate food sources and had also provided a means of survival through periods of cold.  Soon they came to understand fire-power and used the propulsion of small projectiles to intensify their assault upon their ecosphere and one another.  The watershed moment occurred however with the creation of the heat engine.

HAUCM mutated fully from HAUC with the development of heat engines that used fossil fuels to cause the expansion of gases providing thrust.  These heat engines, in the form of petrol, diesel and jet engines, served as force multipliers, enabling a far faster processing of natural resources into capital.  This development served to hasten the inevitable decline of Gaia, concentrating an ever greater amount of resources within the tumorous settlements.  At the same time, this explosion of combustion introduced a new waste product into the biosphere, carbon dioxide.  Until this point the majority of combustion produced by the Hominum culture had been sustainable since demand for sequestered carbon, coal oil and gas, had been negligible.

Now HAUCM's desire to fully exploit the biosphere was facilitated and the mechanisation of capital growth was too great a prize to be ignored; however, this came at an immense cost.  Firstly the mega-tumor  of HAUCM became global and, due to the almost total eradication of HA and a shortage of unexploited raw materials, the production of capital began to slow.  Secondly the release of many billions of tons of carbon, sequestered over hundreds of thousands of years, caused Gaia to develop a fever that continues to grow in severity.  Thirdly it became impossible to undo the mutative process.

Because HAUCM supplanted the previous Hominum mutations, and lived entirely in a mega-tumor of its own creation, outside of which its survival was impossible, there was no turning back.  The environment of the tumor was now completely alien and bore no resemblance to that of Gaia herself.  Its rapid growth diverted resources from Gaia's own organs, that began to atrophy, and vast areas of the planet became denuded and lifeless.  Since the surviving Hominum mutations were no longer able to sustain themselves outside of their artificial environment, and since the growth of that environment progressed exponentially, making ever increasing demands upon Gaia's resources, the inevitable crisis drew ever closer.

Gaia's condition is serious and may even be terminal.  She has a fever, her temperature continues to rise.  This may prove to be her salvation however, in the millennia before the appearance of Hominum Simplex she has often  tolerated elevated temperatures without permanent damage.  In a human patient a fever is a remedy of last resort as the body attempts to 'cook' the pathogen. It seems that Gaia's current fever is destined to eradicate a large proportion of the Hominum culture.  Whether the patient rids herself of sufficient of the culture to go into remission remains to be seen.  If she does not then all is lost.

Pieces

I have four good friends
And they are linked to me
Whenever we're together
There's always continuity

We fit into a greater whole
Just where we ought to be
Comforted by mutual
Irreplaceability

You may not feel just as we do
You may have lost your place
You may not have four good friends
But here I put my case

You should not despair
For you may find friends anywhere
Wherever you may show your face
Be assured - you'll find a place

Unlike my four friends and me
You have adaptability
Of this fact I am sure
For life is not a jigsaw

What Can I Say ...

What can I say?
The Second Hand is actually
The third - but that is incidental
To what I really wanted
To say

The Second Hand has achieved of late
A most indecent velocity
That is what I wanted
To say

It never went that fast
In my younger day
One must also say
That minutes hours and days
Will go the same way

The Moon walked beside me yesterday
As I went on my way
It awaited my return
As if I had not been away
And that was the end
Of another day

That is all I wanted
To say

The Optimist

Each morning he gets up before the dawn and walks through the darkness to the shore of the bay to see if the sun will rise today.  For many days he has done this way and, though the sun rises upon lands to the East, each day the fog of the bay steals the sunlight away and, though there is light, it is grey.  Today as before he sits on the shore and stares three-point-one miles away, toward the horizon, sunk in the grey.  But today, three-point-one miles away, the curtains of the sky left awry, allow a single ray (golden and precious) to dawn and light his eye.  And he turns away, into the grey of the day, with the gold of the sun in his heart - a promise that forever it will not be this way, and that soon the grey will depart.