Consider, no acknowledge,

That there are alternate kingdoms.

The planets come to mind.

Swirling masses of rack and glass

Floating around us

None have been identified as hosting life

Yet there could be

Could have been

Creatures crawling, flying, digging

Multiplying, colonizing

Creating kingdoms of their own

Wriggling in the waters swirling

Below in lakes and streams and creeks

A variety of beings build homes

Reproduce

Celebrating love and life and family

Much as humans do,

But in their words, their thoughts,

Their beliefs.

Flowers and bushes and trees

Send their spores into the void

Populating unoccupied spaces

With vibrant hues of greens, browns,

Reds, ochres

Which then become homes for others

Usually not by choice,

But needed, necessary to foster

New lives, new families, new clusters.

Creeping, crawling, walking, stomping

Through it all are beings with legs

Or no legs

Wings or no wings

Breathing air, inhaling pollutants

That humans have created,

Thinking only of themselves

Their needs, their desires,

Of only what they perceive their lives should be

The world, the kingdom, expands and contracts,

Breathing its own rhythm

Pulsing life-giving blood and fluids

Across the lands, skies, waters

Sharing common space without consideration

For impact, for change, for unwanted influence

On other lives

On other kingdoms