Sustenance

The human body
In which you reside
Is a work of art
But it is also
A machine
With needs
With required maintenance

We live
Day to day
On energy
Balanced between
What lies within
As well as
What lies external to ourselves

You must consume
That you are not
Extinguished
For you are a flame
Burning in a dark and windswept landscape
And you must persist
That your light may continue to shine

The soul is
The core of your being
A wick on which
All else is fed
Does it not follow
That it should be
Fed as well?

But the soul is not simple
And neither is the sustenance
From which it draws;
To feed
Is not a solo venture
For you must give
To take

So feast
On my words
As they sustain me as well
Grow your glow
From the warmth that radiates
As I do from yours
That we might all burn well into the night

Gather round
Oh wide-eyed wild beasts
Oh scavengers still
‘Round the kill
That it might not go to waste
For there is enough to go around
To salt for darker days

Do not neglect
Yourself
Neither forget
That you extend beyond
Those eyes and limbs
That you are more
Than the sum of your parts

And when we have had our fill
Raise your eyes to the sky
With me
And howl
Raise your voice
And call to all those
Who go without

We will circle
And band as one
For we are kin
We are the same
You and I
Separated only by words
And bound just the same