The Lone Proton

Without an electron,
One hydrogen ion
Drives or gets driven through

Much of the chemistry
That people call nature,
Organic, living, life.

We’ll confess to fondness
For imagining this
Pathetic fallacy,

This anthropomorphized
View of mere hydrogen
Stripped of electron,

Down to its last proton,
However fanciful,
As fully meaningful.

Frankly, life and nature,
And their related terms
In many languages,

Are anthropomorphic
Projections, by and large,
Inventions of humans.

Meaning is as meaning
Finds. At its most basic,
Is it not rewarding,

Those hordes of lone protons,
Pulsing through membranes,
As severely reduced,

Uncoordinated,
And simple as hermits,
Envisioned as basis

For the complexities
That, eventually,
Led to making meaning?