Mind the Weight

Was it like this when
Multicellularity
Got started? Was it

The case that group cells
Struggled to function
As the groups grew large,

With exploitation,
Deaths, and defections
Common? Was it sad,

In some way, for cells
To surrender their freedom
As one-celled beings

And for what? Rebels
To this hour erupt
As cancer tumors,

Hundreds of millions,
Billions of generations
After the mergers.

Did organisms
Weigh on unicellular
Lives supporting them

As heavily as
Now the mind begins to weigh
On solitary humans?