The most absurd aspect of ruminant human
Decision-making is not the final irrelevance
Of our decisions, not our delusion of choice
When making them, but the innate need,
The endlessly rumbling urge and hunger
To muse on them, even when we’re well aware
We don’t choose them so much as express them,
Even when we know they won’t make as much
Difference as we worry they’ll portend. Frost
Was teasing Edward Thomas when he composed
“The Road Not Taken,” and one can feel the latent
Sarcasm in the famous ending, but doubtless
Frost still worried over many of his own decisions.
Has any beast other than H. sapiens ever been
So compelled, if not to extended reasoning,
At least to so much hesitation? Tonight we may
Return to our apartment in Saint George. Tonight
We may spend with family in Zion Canyon.
We haven’t decided yet. Like a catnip-bemused
Kitten facing a catnip-infused phony rodent,
We can’t ignore the false necessity of decision.
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