Jaded*

If you know anything about jade

Apparently it vibes with your tempo

Glistens and glows as spirits are high

Dull and brittle as you deteriorate

Now, if you wear it on your sleeve 

Consider it the original fit-bit

Reflective of mind and mood

Cold stone you cannot appease

Responsive to your changing spirits

Mapping stone clarity to mood

I wonder, does it normalise consistent highs

Let us suppose it doesn’t

Imagine you are passed 

One of these heirloom bangles

Metrics of the past zeitgeist 

Engrained to last

Or even, imagine it came 

From dynasty times

Embedded with response mechanisms 

Drawing from centuries of pain

How should we react was this artefact to

Determine what we should feel

With our modern day luxuries

For sure, stone clarity will max

Its glassy emerald sheen says

This is the best pulse it has ever seen

Thus, the best life that can ever be

With famine as a frame of reference

Who would disagree

The human condition strapped to your wrist 

Heritage of wisdom

Absolutely priceless

Is this what will solve all generational disputes

Why are we so charmed by 

Compromises and misfortunes

Exploitation and massacres

To the extent we want to gift such burdens

Forgive the poverty of my imagination

But I cannot imagine landing on the moon 

While shooting for the ground

If we won’t even dare to dream in a reckless space of wonder

Only our artificially imposed ceiling is to blame

To envision is an exercise in imagination

Before we consider what could feasibly be

Let us decide which frameworks to reject 

And which to keep