Colonies

After all our years,
it's clear that love is not
just holding each other's gaze.
Love is standing side-by-side
taking in the horizon.

How miraculous that with every step,
every blink, every staccato heartbeat,
it’s the great symphony—
we, alone and together, colonies of microbes
working in perfect unison.

Darling, as we go, death is not the end.
Our bacteria cycle in endless renewal:
we're born, we perish, we dissolve
into atoms that fuel
the civilizations to come.

And so it is for everyone:
those who came before,
those who are,
and those who will be.