The Hollowness of Being

To fill up our days with meaning 
with the smell of coffee in the morning 
and the gentle caress of soft sheets against the skin. 
To the feeling of dipping your toes in scalding water (a test) 
before submerging a body 
so desperate for warmth under the 
rippling water, 
wishing it would consume and fill the hollowness within. 

The hollowness of being, 
of feeling everything 
and touching darkness with your fingertips 
like sparks running underneath your skin. 
This is not what you asked for. 

You did not ask for darkness, 
but have been shown light. 

The weightlessness of a breeze brushing past without apology
and the gentle smile of a lover who wraps you up under the night sky 
tracing constellations 
onto each other’s skin. 

The same sky where you once saw 
desolation 
you now see 
endless galaxies 
surrounding and within you. 

The stars insist 
you fill your empty cup 
with starlight 
and drink up 
the impermanence of it all. 

Everything burns out eventually.