Cryptochromophoria

Ancient enough to be shared
By both plants and animals,
Valuable enough to be

Conserved across the lifespans
Of countless generations
In countless lineages,

The cryptochromes still perform
Their blue-light sensitive tasks—
Patterns you could imagine,

If they were tagged to fluoresce,
Would repeat themselves over
And over around the world,

The faint glow of something old
In the bodies and older
Than any of the bodies,

Like a web through the forests,
Like a ghost through the oceans,
Rippling, glowing drapes on land,

In swarms of birds and insects,
A glow that isn’t spirit
But what spirit might dream of

Being, physical pattern
Replicated by living
And life’s need to tune the light.