Sometimes

Sometimes,
our bodies will preempt our souls
and set the compass of our days.

It is then we come to know 
that life is bigger than our bodies;

that our bundled galaxies of cells  
are only half the story
of the life we are.

We live in what we love;
our passions and our joys 
set loose the verve 
of our vitality. 

The heavens brim with light
from distant stars long gone,
stars that flared then faded into dust.

We all, like stars, are mortal
and our days are numbered,
yet the light we shine lives on in all we love.

Count not the days
but count the places lit,
the people loved, 
the lives illuminated in some way
by what you are 
and who you choose 
to be. 

Like starlight we disperse and fade,
but not to nothingness.
The things we love absorb us.
The people we love inherit us.
The God we love receives us

with wide open arms.