Apples and Oranges

Life, not yours, just life, still has
A long way to go. You have
No evidence either way—

No other living planets
Known that died so suddenly
Everything crisped in a day,

Or so slowly, five billion
Years made barely middle age—
No points of comparison

To triangulate a world.
For all you know, worlds don’t die,
Can’t die. Life, once it gets started

May be impenetrable—
Which would only make the small
Lives with mandatory deaths

Seem that much more tragic, no?
Or repeatedly starting
Over again—maybe so.

Textbooks give wise estimates,
Not that they know. Your best guess?
Life's got a long way to go.