the complexity of life, you don’t.
— Paul R. Fleischman, Wonder
In energy-extracting cells, electrons travel
through every creature of the rainforest,
where fig trees entwined with liana vines
are filled with toucans and parrots. Deep
in the earth, in hidden pockets and tunnels,
electrons, guided by iron, also flow in larvae
of fungus gnats that become glowworms
forming constellations and galaxies that emit
blue-green light over underground streams.
Statistical mechanics and probability guide
reactions to release energy so electrons
can move inside dolphins and whales to
make or break chemical bonds in order
to turn the cosmic energy packaged
by algae drenched in sunlight into life
based on cells where, through oscillations
and shifts, molecules choreograph the steps
and turns of a self-regulating dance.
Thus, the circuits in your brain respond to
the snowflake shapes of touching molecules
when you walk onto your hotel balcony
in Ecuador and see a tropical kingbird
perched on a pole, a moss-backed tanager
in a balsa tree, two blue-gray tanagers
on bananas, and a weasel on the ground.
When this happens, you can say “I love you,”
“Let’s save the jaguar!” or “God has wings.”
