Alok V. Menon

the deepest breath

on the other side of now
when this is all over
i want to attend a funeral every day.

i will sit at the back,
silently crying.

when they ask how I knew her?
i will smile through the tears.
"i didn't."

but.
i loved her.
because once upon a time
she breathed. which means that the particles that touched
the deepest parts of her, she exhaled them
& somehow they found their way to me.

i am the product of everything that is & was
all that has lived &
all that has died on this earth.

i am sorry that it took a virus help me remember
that simple fact --
that we breathe the same air.