In the Next Life, Canto II, stanzas 61-67

’Tis said the learners would become bemused
were they to watch the worship from without,
but surely now, the rites to which they’re used
are strong enough to overcome the doubt.

I’m missing something in my logic there—
a false assumption on which it depends.
In any case, I’m not supposed to care,
so every time that thought begins, it ends.

With that, I’ll let the Starfolk do their best
to live without my help and sympathy,
but that still leaves my friend who failed the test.
Has she some sort of moral claim on me?

And there she is—she’s waiting up ahead.
She’s calling for a battle, and she states this day
won’t end ’til one of us is dead
or I’ve dropped my credentials at the gates.

Is she insane? How could she not realize
She has no reason—not one that is sound.
The law is clear: No anger justifies
Such violence against a Star or Pound.

How can I take this challenge? If I win
I’m labeled as a monster. If I lose
I’m nothing more at all. If I give in
I’ve let my mother down. How can I choose?

My mother is no help; as in the past
she’s leaving it to me to make the call.
If I don’t learn to think, I shall not last
(Some thoughts are all the time; some not at all).

©2010 Louis A. Merrimac

Learners: The machines still think of themselves as being in learning mode when they’re initially switched to autopilot, even though the ‘teachers’ were under the control of the insiders only for a short time after the carriers emerged from the ocean.