Nicolas Greenwood

From Dust

You are
formed from a gust of wind
swirled into a pillar and bended
into your shape; you are
a moving thing of nature
now frozen
now burning in the crook of my elbow—
always present,
like a steady breeze; your face
and the skin beneath my fingers
are

from dust.

You are
particles, and a ghost;
emptiness, and the weight on my chest;
you block the sun on my right-hand side
and wipe strands of hair
from my sweat-soaked forehead; you are
rays of light and threads of silk; you are
the scent on my pillow and the
blood between my teeth; you are
alive and somehow made

from dust.

And you are
dust cherished by dust;
these eyes that behold you
dream of you in sleep.
Quiet though our footsteps be,
they echo, faintly, to eternity;
we dissolve, but not apart;
swept by the wind, into a mist

from dust.

From Dust

About This Poem

From Dust is a poem on human fragility. It has always fascinated and terrified me in equal measure that all of our thoughts, emotions, and all that we know live in such a small, sensitive lump of watery tissue tucked away in our cranial cavity. From this perspective, it feels almost miraculous that we are even capable of living, observing, philosophying, understanding—loving. This poem, like this entire collection, is a confession of love against that background—an acknowledgement of our fragility and humble, inorganic origin and a defiant declaration of love in spite of it.

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