Leaving the womb may have been my first mistake

I throw wide my limbs
in the late summer sun
grabbing at every last inch
of warmth before the cold sets in.

For this effort, add my name
to that list of explorers who set out
in search of a new land,
an open country

where they could plant a flag,
stake a claim.
Like tongues of flame
testing the wild edges

we reach out                     and out                     and out.
But will the surrounding
darkness of the deep sea floor
or those furthest stretches

of space keep us warm,
keep that little light of our souls lit?
Perhaps we’ve gotten it all wrong
heading out instead of in.

Maybe it’s only when we’re suspended,
going nowhere, that we find ourselves
at home—fed and warmed by another
with nothing to do but be.

Copyright © 2019 by AJ Saur, from Particles in Motion (Murmuration Press).