On Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Sad to say, our history
Amounts to this, when we review it:
Nature gave us the chance to be
A splendid species, but we blew it.
Bird Bath During the Dog Days
The birds nearby have thirsts to quench.
I fill their basin in the heat.
They chatter in what sounds like French:
Vite, vite! they seem to urge. Vite, vite!
I shut the hose. My leaving brings
The flock in. Some drink, wade, relax;
Some flap the water with their wings
And tail-flip water to their backs.
Most are house finches, but a grand
Brown towhee sits among them there.
His messy, soaked crown feathers stand
Upright like liberty-spiked hair.
They dart back to the trees to preen
And relish being cool and wet,
Quiet till I return to clean
The basin for their next toilette.
The Vite Vite Choir starts again.
It’s wrong of them to rush me so.
And yet they’re right: I’ve always been
(Alas) deliberate and slow.