As Ever We Are
Sorrow and joy
hold hands
across
puddle leaps
and fallen deeps
like love is
every ending
ever begun
when we first
clasped eyes…
Across the years
where you once lived,
hearts ache
in awe
that ever you were
or any of us,
from thought
to feeling, to any breath
that ever made us
ourselves at all
see how miracles
recognize
miracles
as kin
to marvel
no one else
ever born
is you or me
the way we were
ourselves together
and this
every human knows
by heart,
this great gift,
this tender sorrow
we may pretend
life doesn’t end,
or ignore for a time
how sacred
every soul
but inside,
deeper than marrow,
we know
how much
of love is loss
and this we accept
with every breath
even while
we intend
to forget
yet, we love on
in our imperfect ways,
tempered by grief, amazed
by the resolute beat
of our hearts
and someday
we embrace
every sorrow
as the dearest loves
they are, we are
Eliel Fionn
10/20/23