before the fungi learned

I remember reading about how ancient trees existed before fungi knew how to break them down.

Not that the fungi didn't exist

but that they did not know how.

That somehow they had not yet reached their potential as the true ferryman of the natural world.

That they did not realize the great beings they could fell

and reduce to dirt, to grow more giants.

That their part in the universe

was not something they were born into

but something they learned how to do.

I find comfort in this knowledge.

Knowing that I too, may yet grow into myself

and that my place in the universe is not set in stone.