Since being self-contained
living units with eyes to see
red-brick walls, rose bushes,
and fans of lawn sprinkler
spray; a brain to remember
them; controllable legs
and hands to move toward
them and touch coarseness
of wall, velvet of petal, slick
of water, you'd think it
a natural, easy next step
to wonder where they came
from, why here, & where we
all are going, but even asking
the questions seems to have
required thousands of quirky
ancestors, magnificent cities
like Mycenae and nineveh
must have been, savage wars,
and the rise and fall of entire
civilizations in Mesopotamia,
Egypt, China, India, greece,
Rome, Peru, and Mexico.
