(You are) a firefly on the Tree of Life

in my last post i sketched a
visualisation
of the Tree of Life

today i want to start with just the topmost, atom-thick layer
with its imprinted geodesic worldmap
representing this year, 2005

with a dot that stands for you
at the point on the map where you are right now
and a line trailing back across all the meandering points
you've visited this year

and the series of layers below this
one for each year of your existence
(not omitting your first nine months
in a moving womb)
with their connected lines

and below these
four billion more layers you have only
scant and indirect knowledge of

as your knowledge of others' lines is scant
and mostly indirect

and as your knowledge of your own life
has gaps
and fading places

so we might visualise your current point
on the tree
as a light, shining

with those segments of your past you know best
reflecting that shining consciousness

and the segments of others' present and past
and the past you never knew
shining only dimly
to reflect your distant
and relatively dim
consciousness