The world is cruel and laughs at human failure
Mocking those who do not meet its whim,
Loving those who wear life's false regalia,
And fearing those who go out on a limb.
If you have ever heard the tame geese cackle
And watched them strut and preen and bob and feed,
Secure within their flock from life's wild tackle,
Inspired by nothing more than idle greed.
If you have ever watched the simple pleasure
Derived from being like the goose next door,
As loud, as smart, as bright by any measure,
For being of the flock - no less, no more.
To them there is no world beyond their compound
For all that matters is contained within,
To eat, to sleep, to mate upon the rebound,
Rejoicing in their own infernal din.
And how they fear and harry the intruder
Who seeks to find a place within their flock.
Whose presence bears the threat of something cruder
Than the average goose, the chick off the old block.

They fear you for your breath of independence,
They fear you for the life you lead outside.
They fear you when you will not dance attendance
On other geese that like to ride the tide.
They mock and call you weird and not quite normal
Because you will not goose-step like the rest,
Which all the tame geese, long necks proudly arching,
Believe embodies all in geese that's best.
But you're the wild goose high above the ocean,
Riding winds which blow you where they will,
Determined that you'll govern your own motion,
Of when you fly and when you would be still.

So do not let the tame geese vision blind you,
The farmyard strut was never meant for you.
So flex your wings and leave them far behind you
And take the route marked 'to yourself be true'.

September 2002