Causes Incident to Age

And what if a living planet
Is like an organism, and
Planetary organisms

Are common in the universe
And have a typical lifespan?
What if humans are a symptom

Of ordinary senescence,
A cultural species unique
To this planet, surely, but not

Atypical of aging worlds,
No more than cancers, each unique,
Are atypical in your flesh?

If you’re old enough, consider
All your own sensations of loss.
You may fear cancer. You may rage,

But you understand your dying
As a typical part of life,
And maybe Gaia’s just dying.

It seems a stretch. How would we know?
There have been severe shocks before.
But that’s true for any old corpse.