Genesis

Here I sit on tapestried sofa
cozy-warm beside wood-burning stove
meditating in magical glow
of brightly lit, votive Christmas tree

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

a cosmic speck collided with others
in great, beckoning silence
warmed by a distant sun
in benevolent galactic corner

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

infused liquid in oceanic flask
rich with organizing, chemical bits

steeping for a billion years
'til sparked into the living riddle

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

molecular to microscopic being
metabolizing eager elements
to duplicate an exact other
spawning boundless speciation

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

watery expanse flooded with color

blooming with fantastical forms

crafted by available time

in the hands of insatiable change

here I am, here I am

from where, from where

emboldened fins to wings and feet
seizing arctic to tropic niches
roaming grassy, savannah plains
in quest of exits for northern lands

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

hunting, farming, assembling empires
the old deposed to exploit the new
crossing insistent seas to fertile futures
to reap even more of nature's secrets

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

building cities, skyscrapers, spaceships
upon shifting technological sands
in quest of the moon, next to Mars
beyond and beyond and beyond

here I am, here I am
to where, to where

here I sit mythologizing
cozy-warm beside wood-burning stove
in brightly lit glow of votive Christmas tree
with my insignificant, wondrous existence.