Chaos Theory

Chaos: When the present determines the future, 
but the approximate present does not approximately 
determine the future. ~ Edward Lorenz



A lifetime seems unimaginable. A long time,
         best read about in stories (been in some of those).

Can you believe I, too, promised a lifetime, un-
         dated until the universal endpoint (death)?

Every mother with a child in her arms rushes out
         from the baptistry, wanting to get to heaven first—

Groupthink in another one of its forms, masquerading as
          history. How susceptible we are, because we aren't 

invulnerable. If only we could promise the dusky blue 
         Javan rhino it doesn't need to fear extinction; or the 

kakapo, the Irawaddy dolphin, the leatherback and  
         loggerhead turtle. An owl flew into the room where 

mother was on her sickbed, and this was how she knew 
         no one could pull her back into the earthly world. 

O feathered trail with its retinue of ghosts and 
         phantoms to walk with in passage. O sad, 

querulous heart, forever wanting to be held and yet 
         ravenous for solitude—have faith in the leaping 

salmon: they navigate upstream currents, return  
         to the places of their birth. Of great 

upheavals, what happens on the cellular level 
         vies for significance with mountain fires and  

winds whipping across the wilderness. If only 
         xylographs in rings of ancient trees could speak, 

yarrow-bright and healing. If only there were more 
        zones we could shelter with cascades of wings.