A Meditation on Humanity

From the magical darkness
of the womb
into the abrupt light of
human contrivance.

In the dome of the implacable skull
the torch of consciousness
passed down through generations
and fashioned into
the protoplasmic wonder called human.

Dark, wild images implanted
in layers of distant memories
in the labyrinth of brain.

Sleepless nights of
tumultuous storms
tossing lightning through the skies
at the ground in haphazard folly,
trees snapping like helpless twigs,
rivers raging with their burdens of
relentless driving rain,
nights filled with utter darkness,
volcanic fury ripping the earth
as if it were paper,
sky overwhelmed by distant points of light and
moon, mysterious moon
casting pale shadows on the midnight earth,
howling beasts that break the silence
and impregnate the unsuspecting mind
with avenues of fear and deep distrust
of nature so capricious.

Lush rich beauty of the world
enveloped by the seasons,
filled with wondrous creatures
gave pause to awakening spirit
to rest and meditate
upon the possibility of meaning,
to consider cause as well as effect.

Conflict between the inexplicable and the known,
horror of predation and joy of the kill,
fear and understanding,
health and disease,
plenty and the relentless pain of hunger,
harmony and upheaval,
rapture of sweet love and rage towards the enemy,
living and the end of life,
gave sustenance to the idea of the capricious gods
who hold creation in their playful hands
who can change the course of life
in an instant.

Born with the hunger to understand,
born with the relentless desire for harmony,
wrapped in mother’s arms and
held sweetly at the breast,
we seek each other out
to enrich the joy,
to placate the suffering
that begins to unwind from first breath.

We are a vast tribe
grown from few to billions,
we carry the emotions
bundled in our minds like fire,
we have great capacity for
living fruitfully or
giving sway to ignorance
and a thirst for chaos and dissolution.

We are a vast tribe,
grown from few to billions,
we can continue to nurture hatred
sustain the idea of enemy,
need for mortal combat or
take the noble idea of equality
and give it true birth
in the human heart.

We are a vast tribe,
grown from few to billions,
we can hold on to pernicious ideas
that arose from a darker age
where ignorance resided or
embrace our capacity for wonder,
and enfold the whole of humanity
to our breast like the ancient mother that
gave birth to us all.