Secular mystic

to sing and dance and make a holiday
would be a great ambition if we could
raise our eyes from the dirt and see
the palest clouds against cerulean sky

but we are doomed to serve and so to bend
our necks to toil and duty in this life
our hopes we place on an eternal rest
of joy unlimited beyond the world

but heaven is simply the abode of death
and liberation but another word
for dying and we know that there is not
rebirth within the universe we ken

why then should we whose life is made of toil
rise up each day and undertake the round
that duty has inured us to until
we can no more and turn back into dust?

the answer is contained only in life
to live and to endure and overcome
a secular redemption we achieve
through hand and mind and every living breath