All The Way Back

Where did we come from?

And where are we going?

. . . 

They tell you to keep your head up,

But,

If you never hang your head,

And look down,

You’ll never see how much life and death lay underneath your sneakers.

It’s a whole universe down there:

The plants,

And insects;

The little seeds of potential,

And the mycelium;

The soil;

The grass;

The mouse and the cricket;

The weeds;

The wild flowers;

The fallen,

And the died;

With life stacked on top of it.

Everything that came before us;

Lays underneath our sneakers.

Life stacked on top of life stacked on top of life.

The present moment that was built by the past,

And the seeds of the future rest between the blades of grass.

The moss

And the mud;

The water

And worms;

The shit

And the life;

Generation after generation;

Ideas formed from ideas;

Science discovered because of past discoveries;

Math stacked on top of math;

Stories inspired by stories;

Life giving hope to life;

And on and on and on it goes,

The past influencing the present;

The echo from the time before;

The forest floor;

Ask yourself,

What’s behind?

And what’s below?

How far does it all go?

. . .

I think, maybe,

           All the way down

And, I think, maybe,

            All the way back.

If you never hang your head, and stare at your feet while you walk through this life, you might miss the universe that lies underneath your sneakers; you might never see everything that’s built you, and what a damn shame that would be. 

-CH 6/18/25