I have read about extinctions.
\nHow the plate was wiped clean,
\nthe wall lost all its graffiti,
\nthe ocean swallowed all its dreams.
\nThey say the Earth was visited five times.
\nThat life began again,
\nlike five great resolutions,
\ngot up on its knees
\nand wept in the ashes
\nof unfinished stories,
\nthe scattered remnants of disappearing tribes.<\/p>\n
I can see the great tidal basins
\ncoughing and dry,
\nthe land hard as adobe,
\nthe wind like an aimless panther
\nrunning on the ridge,
\nthe ochre of its eyes
\nfor the first time frightened.
\nSo too,
\nI have braved extinctions.
\nThe irreducible loss of a face,
\na sound that spoke in poetry,
\na hand that held blessings in my own,
\nand knew the small extinction
\nof a larger whole.<\/p>\n
So I have read of Earth\u2019s fate,
\nand its fate to be,
\nand we are one,
\nthis old planet and I.
\nIt\u2019s best perhaps
\nto buy a doughnut,
\nhave conversation over coffee,
\ngreet the sky thoughtfully,
\nand accept extinction
\nlike the morning paper.
\nSometimes it\u2019s late,
\nbut it comes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have read about extinctions. How the plate was wiped clean, the wall lost all its graffiti, the ocean swallowed all its dreams. They say…<\/p>\n