The Willful Beings

If you, like I, have eyes that see,
to read these words and know
that meanings are a human thing,
as consciously we go;

If as you go you hear a voice
of one with voice like you,
to fill the air with meaning noise,
that magic humans do,

you're bound to think it common,
too familiar to be shocked,
but a willful, thinking being,
near your being, walked and talked!

To will a thing and act on it!?
Unbound by matter's laws?
No chemical reaction
can explain away this cause.

If we were naught but atoms,
and by their laws restrained,
each thought would not be chosen,
but follow, as if chained,

by inviolable laws,
one following another,
without a choice to break them,
to will this or the other.

We break the laws of physics
every time we think or choose.
For reason follows no set course.
We choose! My God! We choose!

If you are not alarmed at this,
amazed that we are free,
to break the laws of chemistry,
you're less likely to see

that each and every human,
who wills, and thinks, and moves,
deserves respect, has dignity,
should be among your loves.

Their right to live, to choose, to love,
is equal to your own,
and you, my friend, a marvel are,
and more than flesh and bone.