5.9r Greatness

by Eric Chaet

Greatness is required of us
greatness like Beethoven’s 9th
or the Pacific Ocean or the Sun
or greatness like humbly refraining from murdering
when everyone around you insists
that patriotism requires murdering
& that success requires insincerity
& betraying anyone who can’t help you advance
by undermining & withholding whatever might help them
all your life
but when you behave as great as you should be behaving
all your life
refraining from delivering anything else
attempting only to transmit what you’ve created that’s great
like anyone trying to get to work
thru the writhing knots of possessed strangers
& punch-drunk zombies
get to work, do the work, then get home
someone with a job to do albeit great
everyone afraid of the panic raging within them
from which they’re always distracting themselves
can’t bear to observe who you are & what you’re doing
& tries to convince themselves & everyone else
that you’re only some pompous ass-hole
acting out his or her delusion or scam
& undermines & withholds everything they can from you
that would allow you to complete the delivery
so that the journey can’t end while you’re living
won’t even end til physical necessity trumps cowardice
& all the sophistry, fashion, buffoonery, war-mongering
& all the clinging to pre-humanoid custom
all the industries pandering to cowardice
so being great & delivering greatness
which is required of everyone
endowed with spine, sense organs, muscles, heart, lungs, mind
requires courage & perseverance
you never expected however much
you were inspired & mobilized
by Beethoven, the Pacific, the Sun
you have to be brave & persevere bravely
without stopping for more than a breath of sleep
or a gulp of love
or an instant or recollecting yourself & your purpose
you never stop finding out
what it is to be great & to deliver greatness
which is required of you as it is required of everyone.