Epiphany
In that perfect moment, where I teetered upon insanity
I saw what it is I was always missing. I saw
Stars and planets, and distant places around me
I saw the people, connected in a system so vast,
Their hearts filled with such misery,
to not notice the variety.

As my eyes took in the world around me,
A world more clear and pristine than any
I’d ever seen. A world of natural prominence,
A world without the suffering, hatred and violence,
I felt fear… A fear of becoming lost,
A fear of losing myself in the magnificence of my chance
Discovery.

My heart beat slowly as my eyes glazed over that beauty,
That rawness so freely displayed around us. So young our
Species is, to walk this great earth, yet we remain so sure
Of our place in this universe. So sure that our lives,
Will shape the future. Will shape the earth. For billions of years,
The universe has survived without us… and for billions more it
Will continue. We are but a small gasp of life upon the greater fabric
Of space, our golden era merely a grain of sand in the eyes of time.
We humans who think ourselves so great, have not even begun to take
Our first steps beyond the greater nature of our world.

And for a brief moment, in my short life, shaken to the core,
I quivered, with tears in my eyes, my heart beating furiously,
I dropped to my knees at the sight of where I fit in this world,
Seeing how quaint and fragile my life truly was.
Upon that floor, I bowed to our loving Mother,
Infinitely humbled by her softness and her power.
Her brutality and her grace. Her love and her hate,
And for that brief moment, I was unequivocally
Happy.
-Elizabeth Dernal