The Penguin Poem

The Penguin Poem


I said to the person inside of me:
What is this connection you want to make?
There are no equals in the entire world, on any road I’ve yet travelled, and I’ve travelled many.
Do you see anyone moving, acting, likened to the father or
mother penguins, as on Magdalena Island (Chile), or Antarctica?
There are no written rules, or code of conduct, or ten-commandments, no oath to take, and no one to impress, no policeman at their door (and they live during child bearing, in the cold hard dirt holes of Patagonia; or in the cold winds hitting their backs, and no holes for shelter, only ice barcodes they might find, in the Antarctic). There is no warm skies, or ground, just cold waters nearby, all around (some far, some near), no time to bake bricks or trees to cut down for wooden homes, no money in the bank, no cars, just little feet, and little flippers, to get from here to there.

And there is nobody to help them, and no human mind to devise something that will make their lives
less burdensome.
In that great absence you will find them, doing what they’ve been doing a long time, ten-thousand years or more: the males and the females gather around a big meeting area, in the Antarctic cold and ferocious winds, look about for females as they look about for them, as they come and select their boa, hatch an egg, and then the husband, takes care of the egg, as the mother finds her way to find for them food! Then returns, and takes her newly born child, and after awhile, they go off, back to the—now—thawing sea, the opened ocean, leave them standing there to be on there own—which in time they’ll leap into the ice cold waters, and thus, start the 10,000-year cycle all over again. Thereafter, in all likelihood, they may never see one another again, but I’m sure if they do, they’ll be most grateful, and more than friends.

“Be strong,” they silently say to their offspring, “and enter into your own life, and leave something behind!” (Knowing they’ll do all they can, and in this new world of theirs they’ve got to be on their own, and strong.)
Think about this carefully!
Don’t go off and say big deal!

The Penguins say this: just throw away all the gifts in one’s life, all the
things your mind can imagine,
and stand firm in that which you were created for.

No: 2811 (11-6-2010)