thanksgiving

fourteen billion years ago
something happened

out of nothing

or perhaps out of something
we may never find out

but from that instant
physics threw a wild party
which for all we know
may never end

somewhere along the line
this planet congealed and
hooked up with a star

at some point
there was a twitch in the muck
and somehow that twitch
gave rise to another twitch
and that started a wild party of its own

it’s hard to say which was the biggest miracle

some four billion years after that first twitch
you are sitting at this table
with an ordinary stone in front of you

through a convergent path of fate
that required lots of heat and gravity
and vast numbers of births and deaths
and more than a little luck
you have come together

take the stone in your hand
feel it
look at it

the stone is something like your ancestor
you are something like its caretaker
its eyes
its mind

let us be grateful
for this wildness
for this wild
astounding opportunity

© Luther Allen