NaPoWriMo 2024 #04

The Fourth Realm of Life 

"There is a wind-tossed green-grey ocean between earth and sky.

It is a sea on stilts, the world's fourth realm of life.

There are plants and animals of the land, of the water, and of the air--

and there are plants and animals of the canopy of the rain forest."

- Thomas R. Henry, The Strangest Things in the World

As passengers traversing lowly dirt

With eyes that flit to clouds and sky above,

That which we see we may or may not have,

But it is our nature still to flirt

With worlds - so dimly seen - that mean to hurt

Such things as us, who question, "Why?"

To reach above, to fly, or else to die,

We need to sail, led by a guiding star,

Who, in her mercy, helps us travel far:

"There is a wind-tossed green-grey ocean between earth and sky."

The boundary is set against the sea,

And to the firmament for things that fly,

And there is land for things that creep, and die -

But still above our reach we beasts can see

Another place, a gift that's not to be

For us who've fallen low to strife,

To labor, pain, and dust for man and wife:

An island with no boundary but air,

A world chaotic, alien, and fair.

"It is a sea on stilts, the world's fourth realm of life."

In Eden's garden, man could walk with God - 

Communion that we know yet by its loss,

The aching soul's expanse too great to cross.

Now in the dirt below have we been doomed to plod

Until our flesh returns unto the sod,

Our itching eyes a lifeless, bloodshot stare

For what we know not, but that was our share.

Perhaps it's that above, the floating land,

Set safely from the Flood by mighty Hand.

"There are plants and animals of the land, of the water, and of the air."

But any paradise that men can see

Is surely not in truth as it appears:

The land of light becomes the land of fears;

Take not the fruit you find, but rather flee,

The Devil makes of hell what heaven should be.

The thorns and thistles stolen have our rest,

When into wilderness all men were thrust.

What's seen, at best, is nature's anarchy,

not Eden, but another cursed tree,

"and there are plants and animals of the canopy of the rain forest."