You think you’re so good, tangerine

I am a piece of coal.
At the base of everything, inside the ground,
A grim, dark matter composed of rotting plants
And too much time.

I give you power.
I give you movement and light and life.

But I take it too.
My skin sheds a thin layer of soot that creeps in the night
Covers your skin, inside and out
Until you are nothing but coal, too.

And who are you? A tangerine.
A beautiful globe of light and life who stands on my back
And laughs, with all your vitamin C.
I was a tangerine once, but now
I am a piece of coal.
You’ll be coal soon, too.