Electron Herders

Electron herders, 

that's us. It began

earnestly late 20th century.

The first organic computers

using polymerase and qubits

came later. Weaponry

via numbers, words

magically appearing, 

telepathy. Measurements

in which the last significant digit

is the Other. However

immediately depleted

our resources were, 

antibiotics were always at the ready.

Forgetting what we knew, 

reverting to austerity

because in times of prosperity

we forgot to be austere.

It's the uncertainty principle

taken to the nth degree

where the bad god resides, 

Zeus, passionate, confused, obtuse.

Yes, we are electron herders

matter gatherers and shapers

of our time. Cancerous

cysts, irrational exuberance, 

collective experience, experiments

gone well or wrong, 

we were trying all along

to last forever. Flood and fire

saw to that.

Prospero was our answer

who threw his book

into the sea and wanted to be

mortal, meditative.

Find himself. We found

the world without the self

cornus to oxalis

orbitals and calculus

waves and particles

equally likely to be

within us as without us.