I really can’t control the things I do
Because, you see, I haven’t got free will
That’s why what’s old can seem to be quite new
Our minds aren’t virgin soil – they’re just landfill
Preprogrammed by the chemicals that course
Around the curves and creases of my brain
I think I’m making choices, but the source
Of all that I enact is preordained
If I should fail or fall or flub my work
Or make a product full of gross defects
It’s not my fault, my brain caused me to shirk
I take no blame – the flaw’s in my cortex
So, when I made my mind up to compose
These thoughts, I strove to keep them clear and terse
And though I tried to pen this note in prose
My cerebellum made me write in verse
*These ruminations inspired by Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will by Robert Sapoksky, Stanford University
