IA GO IRAULTZA

There was a land where, day and night the same, Each hand held a machine that answered all. You asked the way? It gave the road its name. You asked for thought? It thought it, at your call. The land grew clever, hurried, learned, and vain; But when the night came down and screens went blind, Not one step ventured, not one word again: A people with their eyes — and echoes for a mind.

Iris, a traveler, arrived one day Where, at the crossroads, two guides stood in wait. The first was vast, and glittered far away: “Give me your questions, I will bear their weight; Hand me your choices, I will choose for you; You'll never have to think again — it's true.” And many followed him, for he was fast, And flattered every ear before it asked.

The second guide bore neither screen nor crown. “I will decide,” he said, “for no one here. I will not walk your road, nor hold you down; I'll walk beside you, and I'll make it clear What you have missed — then quiet, not a sound. I am no crutch to lean on: I'm your ground.”

Iris chose the second. The road was long; But at each fork, the choice remained her own, And every choice she made kept making her strong, And when doubt came, she met it — and had grown.

The years went by. The first guide reigns supreme Over a people nailed to every screen, Who cannot walk, nor choose, without his light. The second has no followers in sight — Only companions, guides now in their turn; And when the storm came, and the night grew stern, They, they alone, found out the road once more, While all the others waited, as before, For screens to wake and tell them where to tread — But every screen was sleeping, and none led.

Moral

Answers for sale? The world has had its share; They make us hurried, never more aware. The gold is not in engines that hold your hand: It's in the one that lifts you up to stand.