Be the light, and Parliament
I am sitting in Colorado, watching the smoke from wildfires obscure the mountains on the horizon. This poem arose as I reflect on this beautiful world, these ancient mountains, and the brief lives we as humans live.
This world is a precious jewel
Light reflects from water
glimmering against the backdrop of black
back into the darkness of space.
A glint;
the only lasting impression
of our impossibly unlikely
spaceship Earth.
All our plots, politics, and pompousness
a powder keg amidst possibility
could set our home ablaze.
The smoke would blot the sun from the sky.
If there are other beings watching,
from some distant vantage point,
they will never know
how we struggled against ourselves.
Would they see a flicker of light, then ash,
a twinkle against the brilliance of our sun?
Would such a cataclysmic moment for humanity
even register amidst an endless sea of stars?
One certain thing down on the ground:
what happens to us is up to us.
Cause and effect our constant companion,
our actions are all reflected back to us.
Blind amidst happenings beyond our atmosphere,
our lives happen here, together, inextricably.
Just as our sun is one expression of cosmic power,
so too, are we an expression of cosmic intelligence.
Each of us is a precious jewel.
Imagine what kind of light we could reflect,
glimmering against the backdrop of black
against the seeming darkness that surrounds us.
Inspired by Parliament - Mothership Connection