When the wind throws grains of sand through the air and the sunlight
makes them sparkle like diamonds, they don’t know they are beautiful.
They sail through the air, unseeing, unknowing, with no queasy feeling
down deep in their stomachs no matter how fast and steep the fall.

I bear witness and smile.

As a path lies painted against a group of hills pointing like a crooked
finger toward the sky, it can’t feel the hope it promises for a new beginning.
It moves steadily upward, without shaking legs or unsure steps, not doubting
its ability to reach the other side no matter how meandering the route.
 
I step forward and believe.

While a skull lays buried in a forgotten grave, as soil fills its eye sockets
and pushes apart its jaw, it doesn’t mourn the loss of its eyelids and lips.
It just stays suspended, unable to wink or kiss, unaware it once housed a
mind with dreams and loves that will never be known by this world again.

I understand and remember.

-- by Steve McKennon, 04 August 2014