While Fires Had Ravished the Surrounding Hillside

I Observed Living Algae Coloring the Scalding Waters

Of the Prism Pool, Yellowstone, June, 1999

Underpinning Life

Organic molecules abound on the earth,

formed in seething savagery's birth,

volcanic explosion or lightning burst.

Clinging to them are bacterial growth,

along with opposing virus that prune,

life from becoming malignant ruin.

Algae and fungus spread in abundance,

in the primordial soup life expands,

creating plants and small creatures,

throughout the myriad niches of lands.

Grasses and broadleaf burst into view,

flower and as quickly as they came are gone,

dispersing seeds for the next season to renew.

Insects and worms feed off the debris,

green growth, pollen and the nectar of flowers,

the fruit of the dead into essential food.

Birds and reptiles feast on insects,

that swarm by the millions at just the right time,

when nesting and egg laying is at its prime.

Predators and gatherers feed on the feast,

the banquet of mother nature's bounty,

a plethora of plenty, the ecosystem yeast.

A hierarchy of animals that covers the earth,

with new and more unique life mutating all the time,

such a great abundance of diverse worth.

Only humans can understand it all,

understand our part in it, make it greater,

make biodiversity grow, or make it fall.

For our DNA roots us to the very beginning,

through mutation and extinction, unraveling before.

We are rapidly understanding our place once more.

We have it in our power to live, prosper and thrive.

We have it in our power to save what we love.

Give up our destructive ways for what is good.

I know that I am willing and hope you would.

Copyright 2020 © Ronald W. Hull 

5/14/20

You can read and print this poem that my website here.