A tiny, pale blue dot,
is all there is,
it is not such a lot
but it is everything
to us.
We share this speck
of dust in a void,
and what we are,
what we were,
and what we become,
is all because
so far
we did not totally wreck
this insignificant
wet and rocky pixel shining
in the blackness of space.
It is for a long time
to come,
the only home
we have,
it is our only place.
And still
we do not understand
how to treat
this beautiful, fruitful,
and mostly benign
gift of the universe,
with the tenderness and
the care
with which most of us
would treat our mothers,
yet she is the mother
of all mothers,
and we treat her
with a level of contempt,
that says much more
about us,
than we will ever come to know.

(c) Copyright 2016 Tom Higgins