It Amazes Me How History Defied

It amazes me how history defied

Every good idea a thinker had.

Where there was a priceless gem

We cast it away for the slag.

Where there was a pearl

We kept the seashell.

Where there was meat

We kept the nutshell.

Where there was food

We took the box.

Perhaps philosophers

Like any other orator

Found a certain vanity

Popular among their audiences.

I imagine that is the curse of fame

And the curse of an audience.

What is us—

And therefore good—

Others will defy.

So all that’s left is what history

Will inevitably remember.