how many shades of green in the backyard cedar hedge, 
how many variegated branches flicker in the sun?
impossible to count – the more you look, the more you see.
more greens dance there than live in my box of crayons,
and i bought the deluxe set.

how many differing raindrops fall on how many differing blades of grass, 
each welcoming the varied deluge as the drought for a moment is broken?
you hear the range in the music the drops make as they 
impact the ground here and there
on green weeds and brown grasses and every hue of flower in between.

even the bees that bumble about my gardens, flitting from marigold to cosmos, are unique,
their distinctiveness ever more apparent the longer i inspect them 
while they dine on pollen and petals, ignoring my hovering shadow.
their stripes and wings and limbs are as varied as our own when one takes the time to look,
minus the wings, of course.

infinite options and varieties abound, an examined life or no.
uncountable deviations litter whatever category you bring to mind, 
every population bulging with millions of the unique – 
save for those identical twins that lived down the street.
the palettes we mostly don’t attend to put rainbows to shame,
and the inanimate is as infinite as the living.

every bite of reality is complexity personified,
a truth we ignore as we search for the soon-to-be discovered
one true way.