Air

By Eric Gonzales ( grade 12)

What will I be when

All of this is finished, done

Terminated, at

An end, when everything has

At last grinded to a halt?

What shall I do with

Myself, finally after such a long

Time, of moving and

Working, of running in a

Race that lasts eternity?

What will I become

Now that I am still, for

The first time in…in

How long? How long has it been

Since I have stopped in this race?

For I lie now on

The earth, the soil, the world, still

Working, still moving

This vast, wild system of life

Everything all around me.

I can feel it still

The sound of the fungi, a

Bird’s call and I

Know that the race will go on

Beyond me, that all of this

Will not ever stop

Even when I am gone

From this world, and I

Can feel everything moving

On without me, marching on

With not a care to

Me, and I know I will fade

Let myself dissolve

Into the air, I know my

Self will flow back into the

Universe that I

Know surrounds me, my mind I

Feel slowly fading

Into the ether of this

Marvelous world, this place called

Home, my own very

Being, spread across the world

seeing, feeling, all

Of this lovely universe

All of these worlds all around.

So what will I be?

I will be a cloud, a leaf.

I will be a gust

Of wind, that carries my laugh.

I will be a light, a star

Floating in the space

I will be an angel, who

Will fly from the sky

To see what has become of

The universe that I left.

I will be a drop

Of rain, a shifting desert

A wee blade of grass.

I will be everything, I

Will be nothing, but most of

All I will know this

And of this I am sure

I will be me.

I shall be me

I must be me

I am me.

Me.