See the Image

Published in the 2024 St. Louis County Library Anthology, incomplete. Here it is in total.

See the image				
reflected
in eyes
peering from
trees
blades of grass
ocean depth 

Listen to worrying
stillness
as quiet 
aching awareness
grows for each intelligent
being

Feel sadness
weigh upon your heart
as one by one
fellow life forms
disappear
becoming memories
of beauty
lost
for those of us
left behind

See yourself
reflected
in eyes
peering

Hear yourself
quietly
stirring
aching

Feel yourself
passing
into 
extinction

by your own hand