an excerpt from AMBITION'S PROGRESS PT 1 Read online

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  Copyright 2011 B Mathew

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  Title: an excerpt from AMBITION’S PROGRESS pt 1

  Author: b mathew

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  RECOMMENDED READING FOR ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDENTS

 

  ……… As expected, trouble was soon knocking at his door with a grin, for there was a gathering of dark clouds and buffeting of strong winds.

  And lo, a titan, so petrifying to behold appears from one of the alleys! Ambition first stood stunned and then took confidence in his panoply.

  The hideous monster stood before him.

  Its name was Unemployment:

  Hideous monster Unemployment

  Unemployment:Who art thou and whither art thou bound?

  Ambition:An émigré am I from the city of Penury,

  An evil place, plenished exceedingly with miseries, defeats, failures, starvation and such privations that slay the spirit even to ponder,

  And I am bound for that wonder city of Prosperity,

  To liberate myself from this burden of want,

  And to swirl out Idols of woe from mine life,

  Like as once at prostituted Judah,

  Yahu My Strength, purged his southern throne of the brazen snake and baleful Asherah;

  Him also tapped the prosperity springs of Gihon and built the Siloam Tunnel,

  Tho’ felleth he by the blows of paganic barbarians,

  Yet allowed not his enemies to rejoice.

  But rose again; lifted up by Yahweh,

  Whose retributive minister with vengeance,

  Jostled them on to the Babylonian snare,

  And then further racking at Khalute,

  In the hands of the mighty Elamites.

  Unemployment:So! By this I now perceive that thou art a subject of his majestic highness,

  The almighty Lord Poverty,

  The king of the mighty city of Penury!

  You idiot! Traitor and cursed renegade!

  Durst thou escape thy royal king and land!

  Knowest thou not with just one deadly blow with mine ireful fist I can put an end to thine wild ambitious dreams!

  Hark, I am the governor of this place,

  Appointed by his eminence, Lord Poverty!

  Ambition:True O Unemployment!

  Indeed was I born under his despotic dominion,

  But the inordinate laws imposed therein,

  Was such that no sapian could ever bare.

  And the like of which that singing shepherd hath said truly in the hallow’d vulgate,

  Where rivers were turned into wilderness,

  Watersprings to dry ground and fruitful lands into barrenness.

  As such after much forethought, decided I to migrate,

  To a more amicable city, even the glorious city of Prosperity;

  That throbs with splendour as at the Valley of the Maidens, in ancient land of Shiloh,

  Wherein the Arcadian lasses by morn,

  When Phoebus set’st out hauling along, the Smiling-Fire-Ball, to transit the expanse,

  Daily wake with singing hearts merrily from their cozy beds at a waking snap of dawning harbingers,

  And rush at once to greet fruit gardens, orchards and Vineyards.

  Unemployment:No king, I dare assert, would ev’r delight in losing his men.

  Sith thou complainest of such seamy conditions, I’ll help thee,

  If only thou interposest thy vain purpose and yield unto me.

  I’ll give thee housing facilities at a good, reasonable rate at mine village called Mediocrity,

  Which lieth not far from here, a haven.

  And thou canst labour at mine plantation,

  That is, the Hard Manual Labour Estate,

  Managed by mine appointed manager, Mr. Tyranny.

  If thou provest thyself worthy and loyal,

  Then will he remove thy burdens and thou canst the bare needs meet.

  Hark and behold, the Issue of Adultery, saith in the inspir’d Grecian Septuagint:

  The sleep of a labouring man is sweet,

  whether he eateth much or little bit,

  But the wealth of the rich will not let him sleep in peace or have sweet and happy dream.

  Ambition:Such pelting songs they sang, such charming words they spake unto his ears;

  Whose great tremor, like an upshot of convection, that pierceth asunder ev’n his body, soul and spirit,

  That they might lull him away from his toil for honour.

  But bound he himself firmly unto his objective and spurned them all!

  Hark thou Unemployment! This day, this hour, yea, ev’n this very moment he standeth before thee!

  Here I stand, an Ulysses!

  Marvel not wherefore I speak this manner!

  Venerate I pray thee, mine God-given prerogative of option.

  Obnoxious indeed are thy sordid, abhorred offers,

  Unto mine inner cravings for fame, gold, recognition and big accomplishments.

  Verily could I seek refuge from thy infernal wrath at the Hard Manual Labour Estate,

  And receive the security of food, shelter and clothes at Mediocrity.

  But then meseems, there’s more height to life than to be absorbed into the maelstrom of ceaseless struggles;

  To cadge for the basic necessities of life and to be bound by the thralldom of drudgery.

  For mine heart is set upon the Cornucopia, offered so freely in the glorious city of Prosperity.

  Prosperity!

  How it thrilleth mine lorn heart!

  Prosperity!

  Like wooing arrows of a cluster of reddish Anemones that slay tourists.

 

  City of Prosperity!

  ‘Tis a haven!

  T’will be like reposing’ by the sweet bank of fam’d Jordan River, at Dagonia,

  Whereat majestic Tamarisk Trees fan

 

  their sheltering, rustic branches to cool a weary, thirsty soul.

  Unemployment:A truism ‘tis indeed, but nev’rtheless, to conjure the complete realization of thy perception of the blind alley,

  Wherein ‘gainst Sagacity thou hast been led by thy whimsy, foolish ambitious dreams,

  I shall herenow enlighten thy knowledge, that thou may’st make from utter perdition:

  Many block-headed argonauts like thee, who hath repudiated the security of mediocrity life to venture forth in this foolish odyssey,

  By reason of the alluring offers of the horn of Plenty, glory and recognition,

  Did alas walk into their own obsequies;

  Conducted by the Reverend Disaster and Pastor Fates, with none but Mr. De
ath to bemourn them. Hark thou O argonaut,

  This painful exemplary should provide food for some profound thought.

  Hark, not to mention of the many whom I had personally hauled, whipped and brutally tortured and slain and chopped to pieces, amid their progress!

  Thy ears must have surely seen,

  And thy eyes must have surely heard,

  Of gory news of countless, who were scotched and crucified upside-down, reaching their bitter haven of an ignomious bane!

  Hast thou not heard, you filtered Idiot!

  That durst have the effrontery to defy Lord Poverty, me and our kingdom’s laws!

  It strikest me now!

  Thy fellow citizen, from Penury, Mr. Never-Give-Up and his poor dear family are now waiting a brutal execution the next rest,

  Pending his own decision to give up his wild dreams and to settle in peace at mine village, Mediocrity,

  And labour at hard Manual Labour Estate.

  Wherefore, harken unto mine counsel my good friend;

  The security I offer is brighter than a blind venture and a certain death.

  The true contentment I hereby offer shall suffice thee and thy family.

  So then, wilt thou not rest upon my good laurel?

  Ambition:Nay titan nay!

  To feed me with such Lotus,

  That I might forget mine rightful cravings,

  Thou shalt but flounder O Unemployment!

  ‘Tis true, but by virtue of their failure to recognize the great Sage of Concord,

  And his eternal laws, many hath perished.

  Nor did they ever endeavour to seek and to invoke the powers of that strange, mysterious man, Mr. Other-Self.

  For depths neath me lieth a fiery burning coal;

  An unquenchable burning obsession!

  And a thousand water of disaster,

  Canst never never douse that fire!

  All thy mediocrity offers have I weighed against desires and wants of mine heart,

  But the latter did weigh sore heavily.

  Wherefore have I thus persuaded myself to venture, despite all dread dangers.

  Unemployment:O stark ignorant Fool!

  Art thou not read in Philosophy?

  Ambition:Yea O titanic pedant, not just read, but have critically anatomized it.

  Breakforth that we may vie.

  Unemployment:Hast thou not reckoned, O Fool the great words of the anathematized lens grinder, who, spurned the tutorial throne of Heidelberg,

  That he might abide at mine village:

  “After I had learned from experience that everything that repeatedly occurs in everyday life is futile and fruitless and had seen that the things of which I was afraid were neither good nor bad intrinsically but only in so far as the mind is affected by them…. I was aware of the many advantages that come from fame and fortune and knew I would have to abstain from seeking them if I wanted seriously to pursue something new and different; and I recognized that if it should turn out that the highest happiness did reside in fame and fortune it would be bound me by. On the other hand if it did not so reside and I devoted myself to them. Then again I should fail to attain the highest happiness.”

  Doth not the passion for wealth, fame depict Dante’s wolf! Wherefore callow the satiation of pleasure, leadeth to woe and heartbreaks rather than to the blessed life. For events, like as these harsh realities thou seest now are in accordance to fixed laws. Wherefore, despise not mine offers lest thou reapest wrath. Discover sublime root of eye-opener at mine estate and village.

  Ambition:Let me refute, or rather elucidate, the tuberculosis Victim’s conceit by the premises of Epicurus solely;

  Doth not the pursuit of all pleasure fall into two categories-the natural and the unnatural, the necessary and unnecessary. Wherefore the former is sublime and honourable. For ‘tis void of selfishness, greed and every manner of perverse inclinations and evils, which flourisheth mordantly in the latter, wherefore in the pursuit of the former, surely, one can nev’r incur divine wrath.

 

  Thy incriminating attribution of evil to mine obsession for fame and fortune mocketh the very premise upon which Thou stand’st;

  Hark, for intrinsically according to Spinoza, my desir’s are not evil.

  For I enjoy sublime pleasure, in the pursuit of fame and gold,

  Which is, but the alpha and omega of the blessed life.

  Unemployment:Look now argonaut, perhaps according to thy Epicurus, thy obsession is not at all evil.

  But the Logos, surely condemneth thy evil pursuit,

  Would’st thou defy the Holy writ!

  Hark now:

  ‘But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the obsession for prosperity is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves thro’ with many sorrows. Therefore thou argonaut, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness which thou canst find at mine estate and village’.

  Wherefore O argonaut, make from the road to the city of Prosperity.

  Hark, labour not to be rich!

  Ambition:But thou forget’st O Unemployment,

  While the Logos warneth of the abuse of Yahweh’s wealth,

  It also enlightens us on its positive values.

  Doth not the Logos say, that all riches and wealth are Divine gifts;

  He shall give riches, wealth and honour,

  His blessing maketh rich, He shall, fill thy barns with plenty.

  He giveth power to get wealth, he desires above all things, that we prosper,

  He even challenges to open His windows and flood us with prosperity.

  Herein O titan is the positive value of the city of Prosperity which I have set upon;

  That He bids me to sow bountifully that I may abound to every good work.

  Unemployment:But a tormenting truth I have for thee;

  The Almighty hath never chosen thee for fame and fortune.

  Is it not written; the Lord maketh poor and the Lord maketh rich,

  Two men in town, one rich, the other poor,

  He shall not be rich.

  Hark, all men surely are not created equal;

  For some he hath made them wealthy Philemons,

  While others, He hath humbled them to be Useful Slaves.

  Thou art not created for Prosperity but for Mediocrity and Hard Manual Labour Estate!

  Ambition:Hath not the Swan of Avon brought this truth by fat Falstaff’s boastful mouth,

  That homo the word for Man!

  Cruel distinctions amongst Homo Sapians arose from that bad tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

  I defy thee O Unemployment,

  That there’s shadow of turnings in the good Creator;

  The portal of His infinite Heart is ever open, both to a forlorn Destitute Man and a majestic patrician.

  Unemployment:Ha, Ha, ha O fool!

  Thou shalt anon see if He will come unto thy aid when I barbeque thee!

  Or if the Stars will hide indeed their fires to blind the dread perils that lurk before thy road to fame and gold thou off-headed Macbeth!

  O stupid mule!

  Reckon O reckon, thou stiff-neck rebel, the dangers that await thee!

  Ambition:What! Shall He not hasten when Him I call!

  Verily verily He will! That thou wilt see!

  The dangers have I reckoned,

  But no fear standeth before this juggernaut of bold Venture!

  ‘Tis the fourth man amidst fiery trials!

  Unemployment:Venture despite certain death!

  Ambition:Yea O Unemployment! In this matter reckon me a Palamon;

  ‘I that loveth so hote Amalthea the brighte,

  That I w
ol dye present in hir sighte

  Therefore I axe deeth and my juwyse’

  I trust mine obsession and it shall attain the purpose at all cost,

  If not, my death be my repose!

  Unemployment:O argonaut, vent not thy foolishness,

  By leaning upon thy heart’s obsession,

  It is like that unstable Fire Ring,

  The sore heartbreaks it shall vest upon thee,

  Shall outshadow all lights of its glories.

  Reckon O argonaut, that monument of heartbreak and sorrow upon that deep;

  First, it did seem right for him to place trust upon his only issue;

  The recipient of many worthy and envied honours.

  Alas! came a victory shrouded in black sails,

  That threw the good old king into the deep,

  That till this day standeth an Aegean sea!

  Hark, the man whom thou call’st Other-Self shall bring about only thy destruction.

  Reckon again that gallant swain, Troilus,

  Whose god, love and consuming obsession was that faithless dog, capricious Criseyde;

  Who at last betrayed him.

  In perception of his follies cried he:

  ‘And in himself he laugh at the wo

  Of hem that wepten for his deth so faste;

  And dampned at oure werk that foloweth so,

  The blyde lust, the which that may not laste,

  And sholden at oure herte on hevene be caste.

  Thine blind ambitions will not last and shall betray thee.

  Accept mine offers and save thyself from all disappointments.

  Thou art a mortal callow,

  Wherefore thou hear’st not the music sublime of the concentric Heavens.

  Hark unto me therefore, for speak I from the pure realm which Troilus himself at last entered.

  Trade thine ass O argonaut!

  Ambition:Thy twinning meanders appeareth more beautiful and beguiling than even the Cani-River of Pheonica!

  Think’st thou O titan, of alluring me into thine meandering sophism?

  An imbecile fool am I not nor ever to incline unto thy sophism!