Bread in Tooth and Claw

It would be sad if we were all
One life, if all the lives were one
Attempt by the planet to live—
Sad and rather masochistic.

From first cells to bacteria,
Billions of years of parasites,
Levels of hyperparasites,
To say nothing of predators—

If it were all autophagous
And for what, more autophagy?
As competition, life’s awful
But not so terrible as Earth

Eating herself through her children,
Fed by them eating each other.