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Windswept and rainlashed. Bolts in clouds, endless storms. Water and fire moulded and formed Masses of land. Then at long last a calming down. Bleak and barren as far as the eye could see. How many dawns and how many dusks Were exactly the same, or nearly so: Weary from unshifting stars night after night Across an unchanging sky. But down the hills, across the plains The rivers flowed into the sea. It swelled, it rose and then contained The nuts and bolts of all to come. They slowly clicked and linked taking All the time in the world. Deep below black smoke belched It churned up stuff that could have been The place it all got started: That whim of fate which let arise Those twisted ladders. The dice of destiny which mixed and merged The cards in the pack, the strands in the deep. Then one fine day out of the sea We came with a sudden spurt: Break through the surface and look around. Curiously reach a nearby strand. Flup, flup: first faltering steps of a belly walk. Shuffle and shift. Stop. Wait. And go again. Just a bit. What’s the rush? When you have All the time in the world. Girdle of light over the cradling ocean. We took with us true blue of the deep. We swum in our skin and carried inside The salty sea which gave us life. Pushed ahead that great enterprise: The tree of life, the chain of being. There were some setbacks when things Got too hot or something from Beyond hit us with an almighty thud. Recover we did as we had indeed All the time in the world. And then the rift between us and them. They kept the forests, we roamed the plains. Straight our backs, large our heads We hunted our prey in bands. Our bold stare, our grasping hands Said we were ready to rule. Enclose and circumscribe, Surround and subjugate. When things got too cold, We paused again: slumber Of life under slabs of ice. They crushed and cut their way Across an empty land and Made the face of our home to be Just before that dawn Which was our very own. What matter that the start was slow? For it was we who had All the time in the world. Our prowess grew, we preened ourselves And turned to those we now surpassed To tame and train, drill and dress. With our world laid out in unequal parts: North and south, west and east. The pace it quickened, the ball it rolled: Govern and control, divide and dominate The other half we put in shade Divided life as master and servant. Our present proceeds, patterns prevail: Reveries of the rich, plight of the poor. Wit for war and skill to slay The bloated sell and the stricken fight. We turn away so as not to suffer The swollen eyes, the silent gaze Of those we hurt. Our greed is great, we gluttons grow We pilfer and plunder in nature’s fold Take, take and never give: Whisper of the dying woods Swish of the poisoned sea. So here we are, here we stand In the last minute of a single day The long line may come to an end For it’s we who’ve now used up All the time in the world. |
