Inconsequential

Response to phrase challenge

verdant dot in the black void

invisible from only one light year

clutched by invisible cosmic forces 

heat and light dependent

spun by chaos and an inert moon

the present moment streaming

the fourth dimension

unguessed future, unchangeable past

a thin, precarious film

tenaciously grips the surface

a finite number of particles

flowing, liquid

filled with life

ever more complex

metamorphing, combining, reproducing

a delicate mixture of molecular constructs

maintaining an intricate

barely-balanced system

Then in a short interval 

between planetary catastrophic events

we appear, evolve

become self-aware, 

destructive, consuming, arrogant

inconsequential

for we are drifting in the stream of the world

Reviews

[Rick Puetter]

Dear papaed,

Oh, I like this. And you know (I know) how much topics such as this touch my soul. This is a very nice one, my friend. We are precariously placed. We live in a miracle zone that could collapse around us at any time. And it has collapsed so many times in the past. In the last 850 million years there have be 26 mass extinctions caused by solar system bodies colliding with the earth. The fossil records agree with the irridium enrichment data--the earth is deprived of irridium relative to the rest of the solar systems, so geologic deposits rich in irridium suggest an impact.

So yes, most definitely, I agree:

"Then in a short interval
between planetary catastrophic events
we appear, evolve
become self-aware,
destructive, consuming, arrogant
inconsequential"

If you agree that 100 million years is "a short interval", and it is since the Universe is 100x older. And we are so inconsequential. We're just granted life until the next comet or meteor imapact and then everything starts over like it's done so many times in the past.

A great write, my friend. This is a cosmic perspective.

Best regards,

Rick

[Helen Crutchett]

I agree with Jim, an excellently penned and well though out poem. Thank you for submitting this beauty to the "Dream" contest!

[James Paulin]

Sentenced to transparent by preponderance of the evidence. Poetic excellence!