The early furor
over our relationship to chimpanzees
may take a backseat now,
now that the fact has come to light
that we share 25%
of our genome with sea anemones.
That’s jelly fish, I guess.
A switch here, a change there,
and we could be back in the water.
And our brain: is that so different
from those of our predecessors?
We claim to have free will.
But do we make better choices?
Birds, for example, are hard wired
to make correct decisions.
Mice live comfortably in our attics
and basements, without the necessity of having built them.
And the raccoons, immune apparently
to our sensibilities, pick brazenly through our trash
for discarded tidbits.
One should pity them, I guess. What will they do
when we are gone, transformed, transfigured,
self immolated by some holocaust?
Upon whom else will they be dependent?
But who does not lean
for their needs
upon other species?