Blood is red, electricity white:
electricity is fast and strong, blood
is slow and weak--and even as we
touch each other at the speed of light
we hemorrhage alone, blood
leaking from our hearts as steadily
and quietly as snow falling
in the night --

The faster we run, the higher we jump,
the harder we bleed--our blood seeping down
and out of sight, down into Earth
who stores it in her secret caves: and even
greedy Gaia must be getting queasy now,
our cold juices seizing up
in her throat--

Because there's too much blood below,
too much speed and power above,
the ocean is sick and the sky is on fire:
and if you dare to feel, you will know
that Earth herself is trying
to vomit up our pain--

But still we manage not to notice
the sky burning above us, the oceans
dying around us: skillfully, we swerve around
the bloody sinkholes opening up beneath our feet
as we cruise down perfect electronic highways
in ever more powerful information machines
afraid to look down,
afraid to ask:

Whose blood is this?