The Life of a Housefly

A Housefly rests on the cold, tiled surface of a kitchen floor. Its life has been short, and it is ending now. In its last moments, the Housefly is full of resentment. The world all around it is bright and full of life, and it is all too aware of the brevity of its own existence. The plants on the windowsill are a vibrant green, the birds outside are jarringly loud, and even the impossibly old and brilliant sun seemed to look down on the Housefly with its billions of years of life and laugh. 

As the world begins to darken for the Housefly, it thinks to itself, "This was not enough time."

The Housefly awakens as a Songbird. The Songbird is weak at first, but grows quickly, leaping from branches first and then taking flight alongside the wind. The Songbird spends many years following the horizon line and looking down on the small things beneath it. In the sky, there are moments where there is nothing else but the Songbird, and it imagines itself to be as big and as old as it wants to be. But the Songbird cannot live forever. With each passing year, the Songbird must fly closer and closer to the ground as it grows weaker. As the world beneath it gets larger, the Songbird begins to remember how small it is. One day, it crashes to the ground, its wings unable to carry it any longer. On the earth's floor, the world around it looks impossibly old and large again. The Songbird felt its resentment rise inside itself once more while the trees and the mountains towered over it. 

As the world begins to darken for the Songbird, it thinks to itself, "This was not enough time."

The Songbird awakens as a Pine Tree. The Pine Tree begins as a weak young sapling, but grows quickly with each year seeming to pass by faster than the next. To the Pine Tree, the creatures beneath it are now brief moments in its long life. Towering over everything else, the Pine Tree revels in how small everything looks beneath it. Everyday it feels the sky on its face, and its arms reach out and dance in the wind, and its needles sing songs, and there is nothing more or less. But the world moves quickly, and years turn into decades, then centuries. The Pine Tree stands tall and proud now, but in its old age it grows discontent. The sun, which falls beneath the mountains each day, looks down on the Pine Tree and still burns bright after all this time. As the Pine Tree feels its roots withering, it finds itself envious of the sun, which never ceases to burn out. With a gentle push from the wind, the Pine Tree finally falls one day.

As the world begins to darken for the Pine Tree, it thinks to itself, "This was not enough time."

The Pine Tree awakens as a Planet hurtling through space. The Planet is weak at first, but the ice deep within its veins is warmed by the sun and water flows across its surface. From the water, the Planet harvests life. Millions of years quickly pass, and the Planet relishes in the world within itself as mountains, and trees, and songbirds are born. The Planet is especially delighted when the first humans make things upon its surface, looking down on them with fondness. The tiny humans with their short lives would build on each other's discoveries from one generation to the next, and though they did not live long, their creations were seemingly timeless. The Planet watched as they constructed towering trees of their own and launched themselves into the stars, trying their hardest to look down on the rest of the world. The Planet laughed to itself, knowing only it could do that. But the humans wanted more, just as the Housefly, and the Songbird, and the Pine Tree once had, and the want for more consumed them. They fought wars between each other and built weapons that shattered the Planet’s surface. The humans drilled deep into the Planet’s insides and used its blood to fuel machines. They burned down the Planet’s precious trees, and the fumes welled up inside its small little world, and the Planet choked on its own air. Each year seemed longer and longer as the Planet fought desperately to maintain its little world. As the trees, and the songbirds, and the houseflies disappeared, the humans finally discovered a way to look down on the Planet for good. They launched themselves into the stars for the last time, leaving the Planet cold and empty. With nothing but the impossibly old sun as company, the Planet embraced its shattered insides and wept. 

As the world began to darken for the Planet, it thought to itself, "This was too much time."