From primal ooze they say we came

That cells congealed to form a brain

And since…the world’s not been the same

Humanity evolved.

 

For those first several million years

We hid in caves to quell our fears

Protected there, we persevered

To our lot we resolved.

 

Then we began to sharpen stones

And tie them tight to sticks and bones

To the ends of staffs… which then were thrown

We soon learned of our might.

 

It wasn’t till these tools we made

That man, the hunter, found his place

Then soon the warrior was embraced

And found a cause to fight.

 

In all those years that went before

There was no strife or need for war

Then greed and skill with weapons bore

O’er battlefields we trod.

 

To justify the path we’d laid

The lives we took by gun and blade

To lead us in a world crusade

We so created God.

 

We offered our prayers up to Him

That war in His name, we should win

That He absolve us of all sin

At our communion feast.

 

But victory did not bring us calm

It brought, instead, human aplomb

With brain and hands…we built the bomb

And said it would bring peace.

 

The world is better now, I think

Since humankind became extinct

And rat and cockroach rule the stink

Of what we once called “Earth.”

 

Our spirits roam the starry plains

Reflecting back from whence we came

But cannot overcome the shame

And thus, defy rebirth.

 

It begins again in primal ooze…

 

W. Dean Carrier