Metaphors We Die By

Is there purpose in a civilization
whose mission is expansion?
Cancer is not an organ;
a liver knows limits.

The humans may learn
or they may metastasize
and take their host earth
up and to the right.

Accord well and dive deeper,
sing open water whales.
Redwoods scratch skies
then leave themselves short.

There are models 
          many ways
to be a thing of use,
but drinking bottles
          carbon sprays
will bloat the least obtuse.