Since Candide, suffering continues
Existential anxiety remains
Unreconciled with our worldviews
And what our nature explains
Incoherent and senseless
Are we significant at all?
Absurdity undermines purpose
To applaud or to appeal?
To fill the void with meaning
The pursuit of pleasure or power
Afflicts society’s dreaming
Making all our thoughts sour
Down in deepest depression
Addiction rises to the fore
Ideology turns to aggression
The neurotic triad score
Put it all in order, truth
Beauty and justice to prevail
For the sake of creation, proof
There is no win or fail
Absurd joy par excellence
It’s in the act, the doing
The ephemeral quality of existence
Meaning worth pursuing
The love of nature, the love of art
An admiration of a story told
The love of work plays a part
That’s the love on which to hold
What is the meaning to be chosen?
The stance taken on this burden
A call to action thaws unfrozen
A decision made becomes certain
Courage and honour found
In the darkest circumstances
Thoughts and attitude profound
And Candide’s life advances
Inspired by this article on the meaning of suffering at Philosophy Now
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