Millennia

Dawn over Central Africa.
The cool of the night,
    is quickly quenched by the warmth of the rising sun,
    heralding the tranquillity of another hot day,
    as people busy themselves with their various chores.

But by mid-afternoon,
    this passive calm,
    has transmuted into a raging thunder storm.
In just a few hours,
    this complex dynamical weather system-in-miniature,
    has undergone a drastic, though perfectly natural, change of state.

The Dawn of History.
    Sentient human life-forms in family groups.
First wandering the planet's surface,
    grazing nature's orchard.
Then settling into family estates,
    farming the land,
    making tools,
    building homes,
    developing community,
    evolving culture.

But by mid-afternoon of the sixth millennium,
    this agrarian tranquillity,
    has transmuted into the raging storm of global capitalism.
In just a few thousand years,
    humanity's complex dynamical society,
    has undergone a complete and most undesirable change of state.

---

© April 1996 Robert John Morton