Man’s Brief History

Dear friend,

I am pleased to share my new poem, which I have titled Man's Brief History. The poem invites us to contemplate our place in the world, our relationship with nature, and the importance of resilience and adaptation in uncertainty. It's a poetic and philosophical reflection on the human condition, our relationship with nature, and the cyclical nature of life.

I cordially invite you to comment on how these lines impact you and why.

Man's Brief History

A poem by Sal Godoij

How do we live if we are used to so much

Spoiled in comfort

Denied to others

He who splashed in the mud

With bare feet

Under the intense rainfall

He who shivered under the cold

Whose only protection against the wind

Is a tree

He who eats once a day or does not eat at all

He is better prepared for what is coming

Because

He who made the Heavens and the Earth

Has other plans

For those who think they are free

To roam the Earth

And colonize Heavens

He who made the Heavens and the Earth

With His bare hands will break the mountain

In its place, He will design a valley

And from that valley, a new mountain

Will raise to reach Heavens

And where once a river flowed

The sands of a desert will drift

Aquatic birds will fly through the desert

And in the places where once were cities

The wind will command the dust

The water will return to its bed

And where once was ice, there will be sand

Great mountains will flatten, given their way to prairies

And new mountains will come from the depth of the seas

Jungles will become prairies

Where new species will populate the fields

New animals, new birds, new fish

New insects

And new plagues will dominate the air and beyond

Until another man and another woman

Splashing the mud with their bare feet

Will come from behind a tree

Where they were hiding

Protecting themselves from the sun, from the wind

From the rain, from the wrath of God

From behind a tree, they will come

To feed every day

And then, they will cut the tree

That protected them from the wind

To get the wood

To build themselves a shack

A home, a home at last!