On a Long and Cherished Friendship

Stack the still photos of creation:
The infant cooling earth, receding seas,
Tectonic inches, eruptions, upward plateaus
Pushing and sculpting canyons deep
Then reduced to feldspar, shards and sand.

Stack the still shots of evolution:
The yearning mindless cell,
The creep from gills to breaths,
From scales to feathers to flight,
From fur to hair, to neocortex and two feet.

Stack the still pictures of friendship:
Beams and joists that prop each other up,
The extra hand that lends strength and grace
To juggled pressures. The wafers offered
Over holy altars, desktop revelations
And recognitions, brined liberally
For the most preserved communion.

Flip the still stacks with your thumb and behold
The timelapse book!
The minute stilled chapters are animated
As pages, time and history pass before our eyes.
And I know how much I love you.