Sunscreen
The sun comes up,
the sun goes down,
or so we see it.
We creatures in our arrogance
see this immense blazing orb
as our personal lamp in the darkness,
Though we are now wise enough to know
that our small pleadings
and ceremonies and sacrifices
Do not cause old Sol to reemerge
in the morning with life-giving light
or return after a shocking midday darkness.
From the galaxy’s perspective,
our sun is a dot in the clockworks of the cosmos,
moving in synch with the universe.
The earth is a 109th of its size,
and we are but tiny specks
on this minuscule blue planet,
Going about our days,
as if we were
the center of the universe.