DEATH Poem: BLUE PLANET, by Madeline Stern

Somewhere in the Arctic
a polar bear cub is left alone
on a quickly disappearing iceberg
the Narrator says:
“The cub, abandoned, will probably not survive.”

you hear a voice that is beautiful, it says
“every day is another chance”
a wasp flies into a fig, only to
lay her eggs and die
She pollinates the fruit and it ripens into
sweet nectar
the cycle continues

the voice tells you about tropical birds that mate for life,
raising only one offspring with no guarantee of survival
it tells you of giant squids that eat their own kind,
of plants that lure frogs to their death with sweet scents

you remember catching fireflies with your brother
cupping small hands around even smaller embers
poking holes in lids so they could breathe
a living nightlight for only one night
before you released them back to the unknown twilight

you haven’t seen many fireflies lately

you wonder if you are the abandoned cub or, perhaps,
if you were supposed to be
you wonder if nature makes choices or simply
lets fireflies fly