extremophiles

on a path we cut with strange
precision through the swarm
we thrive in places much too warm
for those with perfect skin

   for we are not the normal
denizens who haunt
this vitrified collective
   cut our teeth on cryogenics
and anodyne we tried to change
the outcome by re-measuring
   
but there are things that you can never learn
without complete surrender
   without full capitulation
to an adolescent animal


...

so find a sturdy vector on the fringes of some phylum
   complete the forms
   and pass the quiz
and be set free to feast

on horizons once reserved for only
the greatest of we lesser beasts