Ugly Work

All your entertainment finished,
Nothing to follow forever,
Other than your pursuit of true

Agnosticism. You don’t know,
Anymore, anything. People
Hate that. People must champion

Something, some opinion, at least
Root for one group more than others—
Noble causes were invented

To invest in noble causes,
But you cannot win for losing.
Whatever you do on behalf

Of a group, any group, will cost
Some other group or groups dearly
For the brutal, simple reason

Of the laws of conservation
Reaching far, far beyond the mere
Conservation of energy

To the fact that conservation
Carries within it destruction,
The rescue and sweet salvation

Of something requiring the end
Of some other, balancing thing,
The knowledge of which requirement

Has created, in you, a longing
For the loss of knowledge, the true
Agnosticism that can’t be pursued

Except without you, with you gone,
Nothing to follow forever,
No noble causes, ugly work.