Creepy Crawlies, Save Us!

A mindfulness practice in looking deeply into the experience of another...what great fun! Enjoy below or watch poetry read on YouTube. 

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
©October 24, 2016 Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

Late 1600’s, 

a Dutchman sewing drapes
on a quest to see and understand the quality of thread,
held glass to flame, pulled apart whiskers of filament
and fashioned a sphere of magnificence
far surpassing any enlargement known to man.

You, most Curious One, then positioned magnifying orb
to capture a drop of rain,
slid it within an elegant copper frame,
and held it toward the sun…
In that moment, instant epiphany—‘Animalcules!’—
“Tiny Animals,” wriggled beneath said looking glass:
diminutive muscle fibers, blood pulsing capillaries,
vibration of smallest life, as of yet unseen.

Brilliant Antoni,
artist and businessman,
in an instant turned charlatan,
became a self-proclaimed scientist.
Your professed “wonders of God’s creation,” were openly ridiculed,
mold, lice and bees scoffed as insignificant,
varmints to exterminate rather than understand. 

After many years fraught with scientific struggle 

Royal Society vindicated and affirmed your name.
Antoni,
“Father of Microbiology,”
please help us see
clearly and deeply
the enchanting,
arresting,
miraculous
quality of all life—
Eyes-the-looking-glass,
capture the merit
and illuminate its worth.