we may have begun
with a glorious big bang  
and some delirious dance of stardust coalesced
into just the right rocks at just the right time  
to give us our trifling flashes and lost shadows  
on this rolling stone,
but what is nobler
than stepping in the doleful dung of cursed carnivores
before it becomes desiccated, before its mushy mass  
turns to invisible gas, and makes hallow our air  
and divine our dust