(an excerpt from Evelea Solgos’ Commencement Speech: “Regarding Our Small Significance”)

We are very small
That much is undeniable
What then does it mean
For us to be so small?
What is the point of living here?
Why are we sitting in silly looking robes
That signify an achievement
That began and ended in eighteen orbits
Of a rock around a star?
The last time Halley's Comet flew by the Earth
Our parents were still kids
And the next time it comes
We will be sixty years old
Our time in school ended
In the blink of a cosmic eye
So why bother celebrating?

We celebrate because while we are small
We are still significant
We have something that to our knowledge
None of those heavenly colossi do
We have the ability to feel

We have the ability to think
And to communicate
And to love
And this, though small
Is significant