composed on my birthday, Spring 2024
Not where there are dragons
veils of positive or negative
existence or even outer layers
of our holding atmosphere
for even stars almost
unimaginably distant
are contiguous with the breath
of a dandelion the peaches
that ripen like golden apples
in the lap of summer
what is neither
to be separate nor the same
is simply to be related
blood and dark matter
hidden in the skin of light
this reflective surface
that has us so convinced
we might hop toward
what we most want
and never reach it
meanwhile our atoms
like swans never fail
to remember every being
we have twined
through water
and through sky with
in search of a truth
that never arrives
only because we could
not be here without it