Time and death
and the space between the stars
remain the substance of evolution
and of all that we are.
They rest unseen in a gesture of farewell,
in a handshake or a kiss,
or a child's goodnight.
We read a book or think of friends,
or remember our grandmother's little grey house
where the trumpet vine softened the kitchen window.
We go to bed, or build a pyramid,
or accomplish a peak in Darien
and stand hushed by the view of an unknown sea.
We regret.
We learn or love.
It is all of a piece,
and the moment of our consciousness
is the moment of all things.
Robert Ardrey, African Genesis
