If you make
a plot of human population
over the past
few thousand years,
the results are–
well listen,
let’s speak plainly here, as friends
who have not the time
for posturing
or taking offense:
the results are
startling.
If you are inclined
towards levity
you may even
have a chuckle
as you gape
at the steeply
rising curve
and reflect upon
the multiplicative industriousness
of the recent age.
Experts
in prognostication
and the statistical arts
such as actuaries, naysayers,
political pundits
and military strategists,
not to mention pensive futurists
and the tragically unhappy,
will generally agree:
the prognosis for us
is both obvious and bleak.
The numbers
will tell you that,
but the people themselves
are evidence
of an altogether
different premise.
If you find one
of those people,
look in their eyes.
This will confuse
the matter entirely.
Find a pair
and study them deeply.
Take what you have found
and try to add it up,
or stack it on a line.
Go to the train station
or a high school graduation
or the frozen pizza aisle
and just look.
I think
in short order
you will understand
why Hafiz studied
the graph for but a moment
then winked at me,
tapping the paper
with his fingers
as if “X marks the spot”
before crossing
the room
to whisper
a single grinning word
in my ear
on his way out:
“Reinforcements.”
Embracing Forever 
Yes, we’re industrious! Like rabbits! Hafiz saw this so long ago…
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Or frenetic squirrels…
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Along these lines, our backyard is a den of iniquity these days. Squirrels and chipmunks whirling and twirling, chasing and leaping, dancing and chirping, and that’s just the part we can see… Who the hell knows what they’re doing up in the trees or underneath the lawn…? Watching little chipmunk brothers and sisters not even tall enough to see over the grass yet bound around in circles and chase each other is a pretty entertaining backyard pleasure, I must say.
Michael
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Yes. I hadn’t before looked at the long term graphs. If you look up world population on the web and find a graph going back a couple thousand years, it looks like somebody came along and inadvertently bumped the graph paper underneath the chart recorder, spinning it ninety degrees so that the relatively stable value suddenly took a left hand turn to go straight up. I am no historian, but there must be some fascinating factors behind that transition- the biological imperative notwithstanding!
Michael
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This is a beautiful poem – thank you!
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Thank you for the note, Margaret. I’m delighted you enjoyed it!
Michael
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