ON THE ROCKS
(or Alan, Camus, and Sisyphus Walk into a Bar)
Once upon a time, there was a man named Sisyphus.
He was condemned to carry a rock — by the Gods, no less.
Sisyphus looked at the rock and thought,
Is that all?
It looks easy enough.
Up the mountain with a rock?
No problem at all.
He winked at the Gods,
and carried the rock on his shoulder — in style.
The Gods smirked back at him, thinking,
Let’s see who’s still winking after a mile.
Once on the mountain,
Sisyphus thinks — finally done!
But the rock thinks otherwise —
goes tumbling down, shouting,
“Wheee — what fun!”
Sisyphus runs after the rock,
and carries it back up again.
But the rock plays the tumbling game —
while the Gods laugh above,
cheering with champagne.
“This is getting insane,”
Sisyphus thinks.
“Am I to do this forever?
Hell no… what a pain!”
But condemnation is no joke,
and Sisyphus is stuck.
He’s starting to panic —
he’s running out of luck.
But just as he takes the rock,
for the hundredth time in pain,
Alan’s ghost walks past him, saying,
“Treat this as a game.”
Sisyphus looks at Alan,
and says — “What are you doing here?
Can you ask Camus too —
what am I supposed to do?”
Alan says, “Yes, my friend,
Camus sent me here —
to tell you to take it easy,
it’s a game of truth and dare.”
“A game of truth and dare?!
Does this look like a game to you?
The Gods are laughing up above,
my body’s giving way —
it’s more than I can bear!”
At that moment,
Camus arrives —
a cloud of smoke around him.
He says, “Don’t listen to Alan.
It’s not a game of truth or dare.
It’s a defiance of your mind —
but the happy kind.”
“What is that?” Sisyphus asks.
Camus begins to explain,
but Alan interrupts —
“You know, Sisyphus — it’s a cosmic dance…”
Camus blurts out, “Oh, enough with the cosmic dance, Alan!
Go away — let me speak to him alone,
man to man.”
“Sisyphus, my friend,” he says,
“Why are you afraid?
Your life has no meaning —
and this is your burden.
But think of it as a happy chore —
don’t be burdened.
If they laugh at you,
do it again — and some more.”
Alan laughs from a corner —
saying, “What I said was better!”
Sisyphus quietly picks up the rock,
and throws it — doesn’t carry.
The rock hits the laughing Gods —
and the three are now off to a party
-Curio Athena
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