Robert van Vliet
Everything will change
into everything
else
A scattered blossoming
of kidneys
and
stamens across the
prairie hemispheres
And
you think it
matters that
you
are frightened by
the shadows
on
the cave wall
Paint your
hand
so small And
how can
that
help The small
can change
the
large We
know this
But after
four
million millennia
what remains of
the
small What
remains of the
large
Just the
whisper that maybe
nothing
lasts But
then why are
we
so eager
to help the
destroyer
And the
cosmos sways forever
between
making and
unmaking We are
all
committed to
this delicate work
Robert van Vliet is a poet, designer, and teacher who lives in Minneapolis. His poems have appeared in The Sixth Chamber Review, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, The Eunoia Review, Cool Rock Repository, Otoliths, and elsewhere.