Ascension and Regression

Innocence
The first spring
The trees bear fruit
In the forest of light
A plateau is reached
Change comes slowly
If it comes at all
But slowly, we improve
We recover when we fall
And before long, we surpass
Even our parents, who created us
And rise to the precipice of our potential
Through our keen minds, we advance to new heights
Such that our forbearers could not imagine in their lifetime
Somewhere, however, each of us makes a compromise
And many of us never cease to compromise, and fall
On the whole, though, humanity perseveres successfully
And we, who once were saplings, begin producing fruit of our own
Nurturing it, hoping to create something greater than ourselves
People, being mortal, eventually die
And things that we knew must be relearned
By creating offspring, we condemn ourselves
We become obsolete, and are easily replaced
Like machines, our parts wear out
We can no longer function well
Our survival rests with our children
And in that we can take comfort
For our fruit will come to bear
And we shall continue living
Through our children
In their memories
Innocent