How far back must I go
to meet those distant
ancestors who crossed the lines
whether in love
or sexual heat or violence
and left me
an inheritance of genes
from that deep lineage
we call Neanderthal

No way to know
what names they called themselves
or how they looked
on us their cousins
who have claimed a moniker
we've done so little to deserve
homo/human we share with them
from the same root
as humus meaning earth
but sapiens? not really
smart and clever yes
wise hardly
and while true
that we've outlasted them
it's just that we emerged
much later in the game

What odds our run
will last as long as their
four hundred thousand years
is anybody's guess
perhaps we'll learn
from them even
at this late date
something of use
for our survival
or at the least
to better understand ourselves
and to reflect
on where we've come from
where we might be headed
and in the final tally
what's at stake