out of the mire, up to the skies.
And so it is on a strange planet
orbiting a distant star.
The paradigmatic two eyes
crawl out of the indifferent water,
the wide lungs of a dinosaur,
the father, mother, son and daughter
of the first mammal in his jaws.
A billion years will likely pass
before they walk on their two feet,
a billion more if they amass
sharp tools and swords and written laws,
a billion more until we meet.
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