….I stand at the seashore, alone, start to think
There are the rushing waves, mountains of molecules
Each stupidly minding its own business
Trillions apart, yet forming white surf in unison
Ages on ages, before any eyes could see
Year after year, thunderously pounding the shore as now
For whom, for what?
On a dead planet, with no life to entertain
Never at rest, tortured by energy
Wasted prodigiously by the sun, poured into space
A mite makes the sea roar
Deep in the sea all molecules repeat
the patterns of one another
till complex new ones are formed.
They make others like themselves
and a new dance starts.
Growing in size and complexity
Living things, masses of atoms DNA, protein
Dancing a pattern ever more intricate.
Out of the cradle onto dry land
Here it is standing:
Atoms with consciousness; matter with curiosity
Stands at the sea, wonders at wondering
I, a universe of atoms,
An atom in the universe.
– Richard Feynman