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We’re all made of the same stuff in the end. I find that reassuring. Every atom that makes up our bodies has been in existence for longer than anyone can imagine. We exist for only the tiniest fraction of their lifespans and in many ways that makes us a tiny part of them, rather than the other way around. So this poem is about what we once were, what we are now and what we could yet be.

Each of us wakes in the morning
Wakes up in a body alone
A flicker of consciousness burning
Encased in our flesh and our bones
Each one a collection of organs
In turn a collection of cells
Each built from a billion atoms
With a billion stories to tell
Some from the stars up above us
Some built of sand and of stone
Inside every one of our bodies
A million dinosaurs roam
We’re each made of Julius Caesar
We’re each made of Emperor Qin
A little of William Shakespeare
A little of Anne Boleyn
And ten million years in the future
Each atom will surely still be
The tiniest part of the body
That long ago used to be me
New life will evolve from our ashes
Composed of the memories lost
Some made out of Brittany Spears
Some made out of David Frost
Some made out of Marcus Rashford
And some out of Megan Markle
And then your time will come again
Another chance to sparkle
As the atoms that were you
Are now in everything alive
You are everywhere at once
Every piece of you survives
Not alone within your body
But out in the world and free
There is no way of knowing
All the wonders that you’ll be
Future worlds that you’ll discover
Out of time and out of mind
Freed of consciousness and body
Heaven knows what you will find
When you fly beyond the mountains
Beyond touch and taste and sight
You will transcend this mortal life
Before you say goodnight

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