when you see the black speck in the clear water,
you scoop it up urgently,
not sure how long it has been circling,
and when you suddenly see its little legs moving in your palm,
A Miracle!
"you're alive!" you will think with delight
here you are
here you are
there you go
there you go
step onto this leaf
you're free you're free
and you will think yourself a little noble
to have saved a life!
something profound
something powerful
how benevolent of you to have seen and thought enough to save
And later it will find you.
Like a message
a memory
hissing air from a tire
something about the way those small lives are quite different, actually
something about colonies
they way their entire lives are harmonized
inseparable from the whole
and the quickest search reveals
that an ant separated from its community
wanders alone, confused
until it dies
What happens when there's something bigger?
What happens when, soon, we are small
and some giantic force
through some fundamental misunderstanding
kindly kills us
one by one
or all?