Life

I.  First, we must learn the ways we are
    Different.
Dark
Light
Love one
Love other
See one
See other
Shine
Dim
Stars
Moon
Sun.
Each a glowing being
Burning out
It’s own path
But underneath layers of skin
Flesh 
Muscle
Is bone, the same bone
No matter the difference. 

II. Now we see
    Inside every molecule
    A burst of light
Shadows cannot extinguish
The single
Burning
Flame
That holds it’s own, deep inside
A fiery passion
A spark
Ignited by certainty
Wisdom
Contemplation
Beauty
Kept lit, perhaps,
Forever, 
Or put out softly by a few whispered words
A small bright light remains forever
Love is gone,
Affection stays.

III.  When time is right
    We smile,
Breathe
Rays of light
Pour
Mingle
We fit,
Perfectly, 
Together.
Small pieces
Of a dream,
A hazy future memory
Float and fasten
Tight to another,
Another fragment of imagination.
Slowly
S l o w l y
Something begins
To form.
    
IV.  The first breath,
    After months of heavy
H...E...A...V...Y...
And hours
Pushing and screaming,
Bursting forth in
A waterfall
Of love
Then tears
And suddenly all is still.
First breath,
Magic,
Still and quiet.
Then ripped apart
As though by a dagger,
Silence shattered,
A scream erupts
Tiny
Huge
Larger than life
But life
Is so small,
So tiny
Fully formed.
Looking up,
At last,
With a blink
A tear
And then
A smile.
    
V.  Each day
Growing bigger,
Stretching, stretching,
Expanding
At an amazing
Velocity.
Each day
Something new
A bright light
A single word
And peal of
Perfect
Laughter.
Each night
Tired,
Exhausted,
Remembering,
Dreaming of nights before,
But 
Sighing
Cooing
Rocking
Singing
Loving,
Glad
It’s now and not before.
    
VI.  Smiling faces
Are what we choose to recall,
Through the growth
Bringing with it
Burning passions,
Desires,
Sticky secrets,
Cold, cold thoughts,
Friends blown away
Like tiny wisps of smoke.
Though, 
In the end,
The only true friends
Are the ones still with us
When we come full circle,
Back to the time
When our flame ignites
And a new generation
From inside, surging forth,
Chooses to exist.

VII.  The end draws near.
Every day,
Another
Full
Memory
Appears,
Brimming with excitement -
Remember the years?
Remember the friends, 
The thoughts,
The dark,
The light,
The love,
The passion,
The tears,
The laughter,
The smiles,
The rays of light
And the people,
Who every moment
Out of millions of milliseconds
Possibly spent elsewhere,
Were beside you,
Looking down,
Caring.
This is how,
With a full mind,
A full body
And a full heart,
We will depart this world,
Having seen all
Heard all
Had all
All we ever needed
To fulfill our duties
Reach our dreams
Before
We take
Our final
breath.