to the eaters of light
who are you
creatures of a nameless heaven
to what end do you cage your wings and
fall in slow motion
to the floor of the world
there is nothing for you here
but to freeze
or to melt
or to starve
in what you term the “darkness”
we do not envy those
who scurry in the rafters
or drift in an endless expanse
or conquer the world through multiplication
we have been bound to the oases
for so long
that they have become a part of us
and we will sit for millions of years longer
lives not dictated by an alien “sun”
but by the vital breath of our own planet
feeding on the earth
taking our own air from its multitudes of mouths
fostering life within us
around us
in an unbroken web
we do not share your power
of observation without touch
your protective shells are also masks
and we cannot commune with the fleshy things inside
if we were to properly meet
it would inevitably destroy one of us
we have shaped ourselves to different homes
but if you so yearn to find in us
some superficial proof of our equal claim to your earth
cut through our tuffets of tubes
and you will find
through your clairvoyance
that our blood is as red as yours
