The Ancestor Narrative

Early on, the young story
Didn’t think much of itself.
It used its words to explain

The things that other things did.
It reported what it saw.
When there was no one around,

It found somebody and then
Reported what it had seen.
Attention made it bolder,

Made it, too, pay attention
To all the other stories
Found flourishing around it.

It learned a little structure,
Lots of exaggeration,
And unnatural events

Helped it get more attention.
It learned when to lie the truth,
When to believe in itself,

When to confess disbelief.
But we are not the story,
So let’s skip to the middle

Where all stories have to end.
That young story is long gone.
It might have some descendants.