Someday, eons from now, when you are sitting
around a bonfire with fellows who rose from worlds afar,
and they say to you, “Earth? What was that like?”
may you tell them what the woods were like in spring,
how, in the blink of an eye, plants the color of emeralds
sprung from frozen soil in a thousand shapes and sizes
at the feet of ancient trees. May you tell them
of the flowers that wore all the colors of the sky,
from its palest dawn to its most splendid sunset,
and how bees collected their pollen to make honey
and how butterflies floated among them in air
sweet with soft perfumes and birdsong.
Tell them how these things kept you true,
how they made you believe in Goodness
and in the Great Yes that gave rise to their being,
and how their songs still live in your heart to this day.