the luck of the Irish
(or of whichever group is yours)

how many billions of us here
on one planet
with enough aspects aligning
not only
to harbor life but
to let it go

sentience
construction beyond nature
building everything for good or ill
to have a world
of us

no other planet far as we know does
this
and other systems might

we’re also made to go away
in time

we have choice
because the Earth by nature has
a shelf life
and we must be gone by
time

now we have a billion years or so
depending on who’s
counting
but sometime we’ll have to be somewhere

that’s the way this Earth and us were
arranged and what
shall we know of other
living
places
       carbon-oxygen
       that is
and shall let us land
in spite of global space shipwreck-reefs
or
defensive denizens

that
we might
to build again
maybe in alliance
more
than conquest
for a change

we have a billion years to go
to get that smart

c l couch


(Carl Sagan Day this year was three days ago; I been returning to world-thoughts ever since)

photo by Lianhao Qu on Unsplash 
Abraham Lake, Clearwater County, AB, Canada
published 14 hours ago