My soul got out of the box
and wrapped itself in your shadow.
Every breath has lead to this
castaway of being.
I reached from the depths, an eternity
between my hands and the sky.
I needed to breathe, to be undefined —
but mostly I needed to remember
how to let someone inside.
So I opened my box —
stretched the heavens,
spread the earth and atmosphere,
pierced the heart at the center.
I searched the starry splendor
to find who I’d become.
But there was nothing to define me,
every trace of me was gone.
Who is the “I” that is here
in the black hole beating,
the horizon receding
into the milky womb?
My body is dark matter,
my love the dark energy that binds.
And the “I” that I am — that I was —
is more fleeting
than a speck of space or time.
© Jacqueline Ann 2021
Whispers that echo 