A Eulogy for the Orb We Call Home

Illustration by Matthew Laznicka

we live on a speck
on a blob on a smudge on a blemish on a fleck
amidst billions of jigsaw pieces that form a universe
too divine for my mortal intellect

i am told it was a couple billion years
before galaxies started collapsing into themselves each night
before the supernovas scattered the elements across the cosmos
like dandelion seeds
until the inky black was painted with light

i am told it was the inescapable lure of gravity
that led to her birth
she has always commanded attention
demanded space
somewhere along the way
she came to be known as earth

i am told dying stars forged the elements she is made up of
and intertwined their wreckage with hers for one last hurrah
so that she may burn as brilliantly as they once did

i am told the cosmos is a violent place
but some hundred and fifty billion of us
have since occupied this hostile space