The car in front of me kept switching lanes, blinkers flashing, first in front of me and next one lane over. We both pulled into a diner and I asked him why all the lane changes since we were the only two cars on the road. He shrugged and said,

I’ve been progressive all my life
Progressive kids, progressive wife
But now I practice what I preach
And fear the dangers of free speech
I used to think dissent was good
But now it seems it’s understood
Dissent is just disloyalty
To our progressive royalty
And so I drive with blinkers on
And wonder why deep thinkers fawn
On black masked rioters who’ve learnt
To cheer and laugh at buildings burnt
Professors teaching to despise
Their country with the darkest lies
And so I my friend, my tale of woe
I know not which the way to go
I do not know the dusk from dawn
And so I drive with blinkers on

In early April 1862, P.G.T Beauregard’s Army of the Mississippi had pushed U. S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee back to Shiloh Church, threatening to destroy it, when Don Carlos Buell arrived with reinforcements, announcing his arrival with the words, “If stupidity and hard fighting are what you need, here we are.” Contrast this with the news that scientists will soon be able to create a baby from human skin cells that have been coaxed to grow into eggs and sperm and used to create embryos to implant in a womb. Think about this – two men could have a baby that was biologically related to both of them, one man producing the egg and the other the sperm. Who is the stupider? Don Carlos Buell or a 21^st century biologist? That may be unclear, but we know who is the more dangerous.

A stupid man is dangerous
And mostly as a bore
But things can get insanegerous
When brilliant minds explore
The meaning of creation
And become as star-lit gods
And without hesitation
Turn us all to mindless pods
The more brilliant mind a man has
Will set fires their minds fuel
Yet I’d rather have a man as
Stupid as Don Carlos Buell

At times the thermals drove me high
At times I nearly left the sky
As downdrafts plunged me close to earth
As gulls and petrels screamed in mirth
Yet here I am, near journey’s end
Just counting down the days I spend
In searching for the sea
Surrounded by spare arctic birds
Who sang of flight with magic words
We followed moonlight’s frantic race
To the far edge of deepest space
We crossed the galaxy below
The stars as bright as new blown snow
And laughed in sheer delight
We found the universe’s edge
And flew above the windblown ledge
That gazed upon the vasty deep
Where all the fallen heroes sleep
Forgiven, and are now unsinned
Then slowly turned into the wind
And headed home