Some of these microscopic invertebrates shrug off temperatures
of minus 272 Celsius, one degree warmer than absolute zero.
Other species can endure powerful radiation and the vacuum of space.
In 2007, the European Space Agency sent 3,000 animals
into low Earth orbit, where the tardigrades survived
for 12 days on the outside of the capsule.
—The Washington Post, “These
Animals can survive until the end
of the Earth, astrophysicists say”
O, littlest un-killable one. Expert
death-delayer, master abstracter
of imperceptible flesh. We praise
your commitment to breath.
Your well-known penchant
for flexing on microbiologists,
confounding those who seek
to test your limits using ever more
objectionable methods: ejection
into the vacuum of space, casting
your smooth, half-millimeter frame
into an active volcano, desiccation
on a Sunday afternoon, when the game
is on, & so many of us are likewise made
sluggish in our gait, bound to the couch
by simpler joys. Slow-stepper, you were
called, by men who first caught
a glimpse of your eight paws walking
through baubles of rain. Water bear.
Moss piglet. All more or less worthy
mantles, but I watch you slink
through the boundless clarity
of a single droplet & think
your mettle ineffable, cannot
shake my adoration
for the way you hold fast
to that which is so swiftly
torn from all else living,
what you abide in order
to stay here among the flailing
& misery-stricken, the glimpse
you grant into limitless
persistence, tenacity
under unthinkable odds,
endlessness enfleshed
& given indissoluble form.