Like Freedom, Life is a Privilege and a Responsibility

MISSION TO EARTH

Somehow I know't was my decision
To sign up for this special mission.
Some time before my day of birth
I chose to spend this time on Earth.

My job, as far as I can trace,
Was not to save the human race.
Free will rules this tract of Creation.
Each soul must find its own salvation.

Then what, pray tell's my mission goal?
To grow in spirit, purge my soul?
This is what every human asks.
But I have more specific tasks:

To fully be, make life an art,
To express love with all my heart,
To conquer fear, let freedom flare,
To create beauty everywhere;

To help my fellow creature's quest
For joy, bring out its best;
To honor Earth in thought and deed,
To curb all envy, thwart all greed.

And if some day you'll ask how well
I've met my goals, let nature tell.
Is there one flower, one more tree?
Another bird because of me?

More clarity in someone's mind?
Some beauty that I left behind?
My life's not been in vain, I pray,
If Consciousness was raised some way.

Dietmar Rothe © 1995
Previously published in "Best Poems of the '90s," The National Library of Poetry (1996 Owings Mills, MD) - Editor's Choice Award
Also in "In Search of Truth and Freedom," Avila Books (2000 Cardiff, CA)
http://www.avilabooks.com/Book.htm