Postcard 160

Nature does not by small amounts

There are likely, it seems, near infinite universes flying from each other at near infinite speeds
We, at least, exist in this one

Of this one there is dark and there is light
Light -- or know -- is less

Of the fundamental elements, near all helium and hydrogen, most has never had the chance of being star
But those furnaces have been condensing matter more complex and spitting out

As far as is known, there are six building blocks of life. What small portion of matter are these?
And what smaller portion finds itself on the thin film surface of a body neither baked nor frozen, spinning, near a warm star?

Nature does nothing by small amounts

There are billions of such planets; here we are upon one
So far, neither supernova, nor black hole, nor galactic cloud of poison, nor electromagnetic superstorm has culled this one

Here we are, a statistic irrelevance
But we are imminent and we proceed

A great clean stone holds its face to us and churns our oceans, wearing stones in their constant hands, runs laboratories as countless and surf-washed as their sand
How many unseen suns looked down upon a little churn of acid, carbon, protein machine - success at replicate?

Again Again Again and then
A splash, a cloud, a salt lick, a thermodynamic shrug
But Again Again Again, protein machine

Nature does nothing by small amounts