insignificance

Compared to the massive movements of heaven and earth,
compared to the immensity of geologic time,
the greatest acts of humanity and their monuments are beneath significance.

We climb the highest mountains,
we dive to the depths of the sea,
we fling ourselves as close to the sun as we dare,
and we are not even on the scale of nature's measure.

In our egotism and our view of ourselves as the center of the universe,
we imagine that our lives have some meaning and importance
when placed beside the stars and mountains and rivers.

They do not.
We cannot hope to have any true meaning in the history of the universe.

But we can know it better,
we can be a better part of it.