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Kings of Nothing

a Poem by soma

we rule the dark side of the sun
where the light travels to planets far beyond reach
and there it settles in the dusty red clay of mars
collecting particles, robots, and time

we control only how long we wait for our next breath
an acute and desperate act to take in everything we need
greedy and selfish, we grasp at the invisible with gluttonous lust
until our lungs can take no more, and we let it all go

we are confused by the complexity of the world
presumptuous to undertake the understanding of human beings
lest we are distanced and encumbered with the growing loneliness in our chests
which threatens to swallow us to sustain our fatty souls

we are kings and queens of nothing
we take and we build and we sit and we bark
yet the trees do not bend from the wave of our fists
but from the strength of the earth that allows us to walk