Now We Are
Upper atmospheric winds
fanned by suddenly appearing rainbows
convey the aliens’ message
directly to our hippocampuses
as recently as morning memories.
Saying something similar to “Farewell”
and “So you are alone”
or “By now, you solely occupy the galaxy”
and “We are gone”
or “All our ideas sleep forever.”
Different groups continue to debate
the lyrical undertones of the remembered message.
Still, it is clear
that some otherworldly entities
tens of thousands of light-years distance
faded away as some of us
first settled in sparse communities.
Too far apart in age and ability,
we had no hope of marriage,
no merging of myths
or technology or mores.
So, they let us remain
as children in the inaccessible wilderness
of a spiral arm
to raise ourselves alone.
Or perhaps they spoke to us in the past
through stormy rainbow memories
dispensing wisdom like gods.
We might never know, but we know
we were not alone and now we are.