Micromegas

Cities and Thrones and Powers

Empires and Countries and States

Rise and fall, and rise, and fall

On this increasingly barren earth

Where the only thing that seems to grow

Is man’s greed for wealth and power

And, achieving that, for more.

We squabble and grovel and murder and lust

For grains of this speck of dust

And deem ourselves the prima donnas

Of the universal ballet.

So much so that we once fancied ourselves

The very centre of it.

We realise, to our astonishment

That we are just one measly grain

Upon the vast, endless shore

Of existence -

That our petty intrigues, our greatest deeds

Barely raise a ripple

On its beach.

 

A giant from another world -

Infinitely wiser, and smarter, than us

Thousands of years old, thousands of leagues tall

Lands upon our speck of dust:

With one leg in the desert, and another in the ocean

He looks through his lens

At these ants’ nests we call cities.

Imagine his astonishment

At what he sees from afar!

How we seek to understand the Universe

When we don’t know who we are!

How we spend our short, pathetic lives

Chasing after phantoms, pursuing lies

Content with fat purses, and impoverished minds

Peering through telescopes, yet closing our eyes

To wanton destruction as our planet dies;

At the corruption of our kingdoms,

The folly of our wisdom;

The pointless wars in which we die,

The poisons we imbibe…

Has he seen a blinder race,

A more mindless band of slaves?

 

“You kill for bloodstained acres,”

Says giant Micromegas -

“You bend your cunning to murder,

To destroying one another;

Did you build this world?

Did you work for it?

How then can some of you hoard

What was given as a gift?

Some have things in plenty

While others have none,

When there’s more than enough

For everyone

You’re like rats, racing in the gutter

For a prize that doesn't matter

Your kings are as miserable, on their thrones

As the paupers are in their holes;

Your lust for trifles confuses me -

You pile them upon your shelves

So you can gaze upon the misery

That you've piled up for yourselves…?”

 

With an exasperated sigh

The giant on high

Puts away his glass

And, espying a tail of gas,

Leaves us as we are

And hops upon a passing star -

 

Nothing more to see here.