Homo naledi

[TranquillityBase]

Accidental creatures 
crawling deep into caves
to return their dead 
by flickering firelight
to the original dark.

Brains the size of oranges
they chitter and claw
feasting on antelope.
Predators cannot follow,
cock ears and listen,

smell smoke and drift on.
Fresco of time’s children
watching their shadows
play on the cave walls

their prehensile laughter
does not forget the dead.
They wait for no God,
no Savior, only sunrise.

Accidental creatures 
crawling deep into caves
to return their dead 
by flickering firelight
to the original dark.

Brains the size of oranges
they chitter and claw
feasting on antelope.
Predators cannot follow
but listen at the entrance

and drift away in boredom
hungry for bigger prey.
Humanity’s lost children
watching their shadows
play on the cave walls

their prehensile laughter
does not wake their dead
they expect no God,
no Savior, only sunrise.