Hemispheres

Hemispheres

I am a planet, just as you are;
I am opposing hemispheres, as you.

I was started from a seed fertilized,
As was a stalk of grass, or oak tree.

Or whale swimming, not in prairie seas,
Or elephant amerced, not in ocean fields.

Each to its own, in its place, so it is fixed.
Planets are calved from a fertilized seed.

Me, anchored earth through Mom's umbilical cord,
Me, sprouting like a blade of grass, I reach for light.

Hemispheres reaching in opposite directions;
Half, in the air ; other half, rooting for sustenance.

Enfolded am I in the universe I've entered,
As each life form born, enters a universe.

We all are reluctantly building our own futures
Thinkingly independently but acting in concert

With our animal and vegetative counterparts,
Mingling as we must, to build grand empires.

Empires, though, are just constructs of man
Succumbing to his wayward ego, regretfully.

The universe we all inhabit is so demanding
Incorporating all life forms in the chain of food.

Eating, being eaten, growing - not knowing if we
Are to be eaten - a trip each life form travels.

Our consciousness forgets we're on this continuum,
It's hard for humans to understand their own frailty,

Since life's battle is to be the,"King Of The Hill",
Man can't fathom the free fall from top to bottom.

Death returns all life forms to their basic elements
Reducing the whole of each into their components.

These released components are now free to link up
And form new life forms completing the grand cycle.

Whether flying or swimming, walking or anchored,
Simple or complex, planets, small or huge, are calved.

Life never stops evolving, calving is commonplace,
All around us life never stops pounding the drum.

Into the eternity of time and space we meander
On trails blazed or unmarked feeling our way.

Ronald C. Downie