Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
I lie down in the garden amid grass and fern,
My sehlat beside me is lying.
Footsteps sound, Sahrek comes, grim and stern.
I'm sure he suspects me of crying.
They shouted: "Barbarian!" They said even worse things.
They claimed I'm a Terran and dubbed me an Earthling.
"Spock, being Vulcan means meeting the test.
"We demand much of both mind and body.
"You re-bel, but you know that our way is best.
"You brawl like a deckhand, your schoolwork is shoddy."
"It's true, O my father, I started the fight."
They say I'm a Terran. Perhaps they are right.
"For ten days in the desert all nature you'll face,
"To try out your strength and strive to prevail.
"You are my son, you'll avoid a disgrace."
"Father, but what if I fail?"
Children who taunt speak the truth unawares.
The flaw is in me, and the fault is not theirs.
I blame none but my father and mother,
Who in reckless, impassioned embrace,
Heedless of me, but entranced with each other,
Mingled green blood with red, race with race.
To my conception they never gave thought.
Now they reject the flawed work that they wrought!
Sahrek is stoic and very demanding,
To display of emotion he sternly objects,
Yet I watch as he dotes like a fool on Amanda,
And muse on the sterling example he sets.
Father, though I long for your esteem,
I can't walk in your footsteps, mine's another dream.
Kind, tender and loving is Mother,
And she wants her affection returned.
But she swore to behave like a Vulcan for Father.
How much of my love has she earned?
I'll be tight-lipped and closed to maternal appeal.
She who bids me obey must not know that I feel.
But someday I'll leave them and never come back,
I'm doomed from the day of my birth,
Outside to be Vulcan still more than Surak—
And within, more human than all those on Earth.'
I seek for the future in vacuum of space,
To find home and friendship in some foreign place.
I blame none but my father and mother,
Who in reckless, impassioned embrace,
Heedless of me, but entranced with each other,
Mingled green blood with red, race with race.
To my conception they never gave thought.
Now they reject the flawed work that they wrought!
I lie down in the garden amid grass and fern,
My sehlat beside me is lying.
Footsteps sound, Sahrek comes, grim and stern.
I'm sure he suspects me of crying.
They shouted: "Barbarian!" They said even worse things.
They claimed I'm a Terran and dubbed me an Earthling.
"Spock, being Vulcan means meeting the test.
"We demand much of both mind and body.
"You re-bel, but you know that our way is best.
"You brawl like a deckhand, your schoolwork is shoddy."
"It's true, O my father, I started the fight."
They say I'm a Terran. Perhaps they are right.
"For ten days in the desert all nature you'll face,
"To try out your strength and strive to prevail.
"You are my son, you'll avoid a disgrace."
"Father, but what if I fail?"
Children who taunt speak the truth unawares.
The flaw is in me, and the fault is not theirs.
I blame none but my father and mother,
Who in reckless, impassioned embrace,
Heedless of me, but entranced with each other,
Mingled green blood with red, race with race.
To my conception they never gave thought.
Now they reject the flawed work that they wrought!
Sahrek is stoic and very demanding,
To display of emotion he sternly objects,
Yet I watch as he dotes like a fool on Amanda,
And muse on the sterling example he sets.
Father, though I long for your esteem,
I can't walk in your footsteps, mine's another dream.
Kind, tender and loving is Mother,
And she wants her affection returned.
But she swore to behave like a Vulcan for Father.
How much of my love has she earned?
I'll be tight-lipped and closed to maternal appeal.
She who bids me obey must not know that I feel.
But someday I'll leave them and never come back,
I'm doomed from the day of my birth,
Outside to be Vulcan still more than Surak—
And within, more human than all those on Earth.'
I seek for the future in vacuum of space,
To find home and friendship in some foreign place.
I blame none but my father and mother,
Who in reckless, impassioned embrace,
Heedless of me, but entranced with each other,
Mingled green blood with red, race with race.
To my conception they never gave thought.
Now they reject the flawed work that they wrought!
