AWESTRUCK
"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed." Albert Einstein
What makes you gasp, and stand stock-still, amazed? I bet it is something big, something explosive, something that “knocks your socks off.” Something like a vibrant double rainbow, Victoria Falls, or, perhaps, a UFO?
Awe is uniquely human. Other species may experience fright or curiosity when confronted with something spectacular, but they do not get the overwhelming feeling of awe that makes us stand rapt, gaping at the wonder of a super-moon.
We humans, however, seem to reserve our awe for giant things and cataclysmic forces. I think this causes us to miss an awful lot of awe. Today’s poem is a bit about that.
SMALL MATTERS
Awe is saved, selfishly it seems,
to be spent on big things:
blue whales, giant sequoias,
and Mauna Kea spewing lava.
Tsunamis, landslides, and bull elephants
charging at tourists in rickety Jeeps
get our hearts pumping and jaws dropping,
sucking the awe we clutch like tightwads
out of our consciousness.
Small things are mostly overlooked,
as if tiny is just humdrum, but consider
the bee hummingbird,
a descendant of dinosaurs,
a mere .06 oz., but with
speed and agility so great
these wee birds
blur like rainbows flying at mach 8.
And, pygmy rabbits, who fit in
your hand, yet survive the wilds,
tucking their 14 oz. bodies into crevices
too tiny for predators to reach.
Then there’s paedopheyne amanuensis,
world’s smallest frog. At 7.7 mm snout to tail,
he can sit on a dime with room to spare.
That these tiny things thrive in
a harsh unforgiving world
just blows my mind.