Life Together

I am sitting in the bed of a pickup truck on a warm summer evening as the sun slips below the horizon

I am perched upon a rooftop, with stars above, lightning flashes in the distance in all directions, the thunder too far away to be heard

I am hiking above the tree-line, meteors burn in the atmosphere, and the only sound above my breathing is footsteps

I am diving in the ocean, twenty feet below the surface, lungs aching as I scoop a sand dollar from the bottom

I am hanging from my fingertips, air beneath my feet, stone above me, nowhere to go but up

I am laying beside a campfire, clothing permeated with pine and soil and smoke

I am kissing the face of the only one I love.

I am dust, and to dust I will return.

- z -