When
the Earth was young
the
pond's amniotic
fluid suffused
the whole planet,
gestating life buoyed
up from
its depths.
Watching
ducks paddling on the
pond,
I was suddenly paddling
with them...
Dunked
my
blue-green
feathered
head
underwater for food,
but found only
a
question: What
have
you
become?
On the pond's dry
lips, "the
heaven-descended
bard" will someday
sing:
Empty
beer cans, half-eaten burgers,
stale
silicone
chips,
radioactive
baby
food,
spent ammunition, the
midden
of
another
failed
civilization.
What
have we
become?