ONE PARADISE

One molecule was life’s first ancestor.

This may be true, but no one knows for sure.

The double helix seems essential for

what we call life to survive and endure.

Evolving from one strand of DNA

when amino acids were lightning struck,

life reproduced itself in an array

of forms from this unlikely bit of luck.

On Earth, we think, life happened only once,

and all the organisms present here –

from ocean plankton to the beast that hunts –

were given only one chance to appear.

For life, our Earth seems easy paradise,

and yet, we’ve yet to see it happen twice.