undue pride

if only we had the humbleness

to watch, listen, see the societies

around us alive in their rituals

their interactions: ants, bees,

murders of crows, pods of sea animals

families of felines, canines, and apes

but we take no effort to learn

their ways or even respect them

as living beings, definitely not

on our level

yet we are blind and deaf

even to human beings who fail

to be enough like us and therefore

are less