First There Was A Usefulness Poem by Colin Breck Boardman

First there was a usefulness
At the very start,
With perhaps a ruefulness
Though one wouldn't call it art.

Then after many centuries
It was finally adorned
With balance and with beauty
Once our brains were formed.

It was turned into a symbol
For us all to understand
With new minds and fingers nimble
From the rocks which taught the hand.

This new and precious language
Which needed to be learnt
Managed to encourage
While our savage fires burnt.

In new cultures it did flourish
For the creature it began
And our spirits it doth nourish
As we populate the land.

With its subject ever dealing
In O so many forms
With our fears and feelings,
We consider it the norm.

Its diversity of richness
Which our species can't deny
(And occasionally kitschness)
Doth so often try

To create unknown confusion
In forcing minds to stray,
Full of grand delusions,
In a pure and useless way.