all that groks is God

James Hutton saw "no prospect of an end";
ongoing processes appeared the norm.
Sufficient pressures trained brute stone to bend
as documented in its earthly form.
Charles Darwin sails, and speculates, and looks
for mechanisms that might unify
like what he's reading in Charles Lyell's books
of how the seas sank low, and alps rose high.
No teleology, no foreknown ends
just algorithms chugging day on day;
each novel form upon the last depends.
What's disadvantageous gets swept away.
Enlightenment! From rocks, to apes, to genes
reformulated God as the Machine.

Enlightenment Experiment II

Karl Popper bade us wake from Plato's spell
that's been passed off as "truth" since it was cast
an exorcism with no book, nor bell
to liberate us from the hoary past
the Perfect need not always be behind
all strivings forward need not be downslope
the Golden Age is only of the mind
despair's no more our lot in life than hope
perfectibility is in our hands
a reasonable People can decide
establishing the rule of law, not man
with only human reason as our guide
a bold, but not unreasonable thing
to set forth a new nation with no king

Enlightenment Experiment II

Karl Popper bade us wake from Plato's spell
that's been passed off as "truth" since it was cast
an exorcism with no book, nor bell
to liberate us from the hoary past
the Perfect need not always be behind
all strivings forward need not be downslope
the Golden Age is only of the mind
despair's no more our lot in life than hope
perfectibility is in our hands
a reasonable People can decide
establishing the rule of law, not man
with only human reason as our guide
a bold, but not unreasonable thing
to set forth a new nation with no king

be afraid!

Santorum needs that wee frisson of dread
to consummate relations with his wife
perchance each time those two hop into bed
they'll magic'ly engender a new life
Darwinian selection is a hoax!
that's perpetrated by the government
to tempt and lead astray god-fearing folks
who smell Old Nick in the Enlightenment
to rationally make a fam'ly plan
invites the Gates of Hell to open wide
to arrogate such choices to a man
would stain his spreadsheet with Satanic pride
for him, that fear's insep'rable from sex
'cause there's no condom in his sacred text

kol d'mama

the battle's put on "hold", lord Krishna turns
no armor clatters and no axle creaks
outside of Time until Arjuna learns
the Gita that his charioteer speaks
like Moshe pausing as he tended flock
Siddhartha left his princely walls behind
enlightenment's not doled out by the clock
nor in a place; it's wholly in the mind
the lesson's over, now on with the fight
and Moshe gets up, lacing on his shoes
inspired by a renewed sense of what's right
autonomously, without further cues
to hear God's voice is either good, or bad
so much depends on if the hearer's mad

shemini

Nadav and Abihu drew close and burned
and never brought their insights to the world
once consummated, disdained to return
preferring to dissolve into the swirl
a Light unto the Nations gotta shine
those who've seen more should share it with the rest
an ethic's sterile if it's only mine
we need consensus to enforce what's best
as Moshe rose and put back on his shoes
once private revelation was complete
he had to publicize it to the Jews
and couldn't rest in that communion sweet
to bring the sacred into the profane
takes all we've got of body, soul and brain

more froth than substance

Enlightenment's all Greek to Rick Santorum
he clings to a pre-modern failed idea
about the place of God in public forum
subjects us all to his slick logorrhea 
in place of science he'd substitute magic
and sex-ed would be banished from our schools  
faith makes a very leaky prophylactic
our kids deserve analytical tools
the poorest districts subscribe to his charm
as if his arguments somehow made sense
'though these same voters suffer the most harm
they think they've earned their failures as penance
until Santorum's squeezed out of this race
our nation wears his froth across our face