Reeling

Hitting bottom

Broken against rock

shale and limestone

Unable to piece together

warm from cold; new from old.

There are children in the valley

Look at them huddle and scatter

there, in the landscape

over the mantle

hiding in plain site.

Eons and eras hurtle through space.

Mesmerized by the flickering flame,

cites are built, collapse,

rubble to sand.

Princes, despots, CEOs

try their luck,

flex muscles built from 

effluvial dna --

blood, sweat, tears

milled from the faithful

and fear-filled.

Tempers rise and fall.

Life and death take turns in

ascendancy.

The fall, the anticipation,

ravages eternally.

Touching base, falling into

a plane of rest and re-creation

at the bottom of the sea

at falling's end

There are silent songs to sing

in celebration

on the long trip upward.